Oakland Public Library
Oakland, New Jersey

Our firm was engaged to revive a long dormant renovation project at the library. The original project started in 2001 and stalled shortly thereafter leaving half of the library incomplete and unusable. After taking a critical view of the situation, we took a new approach to the design to ensure that the finished library responded to current and future library service trends. A significant impact we made to the original church-like space was to remove sections of an imposing mezzanine to dramatically open the room. This brought the focus of the space back to the original character of the building. The use of LED lighting, glass guardrails, and stainless steel railings combined modern touches with the existing character of the building. Phase 1 was completed in early 2018 and is now open to public. Phase 2, which involves the lower level meeting and technology spaces is scheduled to be completed in mid 2018.