The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Library is one of the busiest and largest libraries in the country. The downtown Main Branch library is the flagship of the system and supports the 40 branch libraries.
Main Library Master Planning
The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Library is one of the busiest and largest libraries in the country. The downtown Main Branch library is the flagship of the system and supports the 40 branch libraries. In 2018, Hamilton County voters approved a 10-year levy with a portion of the funds being used to renovate and repair the Main Branch. A facility master planning study was performed to pinpoint the possible projects, which provided the best return on investment for the library.
Atrium and Vine Street Plaza Renovation
The Main Branch Library’s core is the atrium in the South Building. The atrium connects entries on Vine Street and Walnut Street. The library hired Champlin | EOP along with Group 4 to revitalize the atrium and improve connections to the street. The design team explored providing better interaction between the atrium floors through a communicating stair. An elevated amphitheater sits at one end of the atrium provides an event space and seating areas for library clients. The homogenous brick material was covered with wood panels to soften the hard edges of the library. The Vine Street plaza was renovated by lowering the existing elevated plaza and reorienting the entry. This provided a programmable space for events and community engagement.
Plaza Investigation
The existing Vine Street plaza is dominated by an underutilized elevated plaza. Below the elevated plaza is storage space, which leaks from the plaza walls above. Next to the plaza is the building entry, which is set back and disengaged from the street. As part of the atrium and Vine Street renovation, the library engaged Champlin | EOP to study the possibility of lowering the elevated plaza and the implications to the space below. The study provided two options of lowering the plaza to the ground floor level. One option was to lower the steel structure and deck, providing new waterproofing membrane and reconfiguring the MEP systems in the space below. The second option removed a portion of the under-used storage space and infilled the space with engineered soil.
Skylight Replacement
The skylight replacement involved replacing the existing nearly 40-year-old 80'x50' skylight that caps the South Building’s atrium. The existing skylight would frequently leak and was difficult to maintain and clean. The drainage of the existing skylight was designed to flow to internal building piping. The new skylight system redirected drainage to external existing roof drains along with raising the skylight curbs. This replacement elevated the leaking problems along with providing a walkable skylight surface that could be cleaned and maintained. Along with replacing the skylight, the existing smoke evacuation system was renovated and brought up to current code requirements.
Elevator Modernization
The elevator modernization project involved assessing and updated the South Building’s existing elevators. During the elevator consultant’s assessment, it was determined to update three existing passenger elevators and two service elevators. Two passenger elevators were abandoned and converted into a plumbing shaft with access platforms. The abandoned elevator doors were covered with wood-framed graphic display.
