2025 Library Design Showcase
Welcome to the 2025 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries throughout North America.
Today’s libraries are places where people from diverse communities can connect, learn, and grow. The institutions featured in this year’s showcase embody the library’s role as a true third space while honoring local histories and cultures and adhering to sustainable practices.
These constructions and remodels represent a range of budgets, geographies, and styles. From showstopping tourist attractions to creatively repurposed buildings—including a former post office and a pizza parlor—these entries meet patron needs in delightful and surprising ways.
Practical upgrades
Oceanside (N.Y.) Library
Accessibility was at the forefront of Oceanside Library’s renovation and expansion. The main entrance was relocated closer to parking and an adjacent crosswalk, and the building’s outdated elevator was replaced with two hydraulic elevators. Entry plaza features such as ramps, benches, and bike racks signify that everyone is welcome. Other new amenities include a STEM workshop, demonstration kitchen, craft room, and café. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation and expansion ARCHITECT: H2M architects + engineers; MDA designgroup architects & planners SIZE: 48,000 square feet COST: $40 million PHOTOS: Robert Lowell Photography
Community connectors
Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library, Downtown Main Library
This renovation reimagines the Downtown Main Library as a gathering place in the heart of the business district while celebrating the local arts and music scene. A new central atrium with a spiral staircase links spaces for children, teens, and adults. The stairs’ glass guardrails feature the names of 1,602 music recordings that span 75 years of Cincinnati’s musical heritage. Two redesigned street-level plazas open the library to the city, providing flexible outdoor spaces for events, performances, and everyday use. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: Champlin | EOP; Group 4 Architecture SIZE: 540,000 square feet COST: $43.4 million PHOTOS: Wes Battoclette
San Diego Public Library, Pacific Highlands Ranch Library
The design of the debut Pacific Highlands Ranch Library is inspired by the area’s agrarian past. Three exterior porches create one large community area connecting the library to the public promenade. Glass walls retract to provide direct access to these porches from the library, allowing for indoor and outdoor events. A courtyard installation by a local artist pays tribute to cuneiform clay tablets, native flora and fauna, and the languages of peoples who have historically inhabited this part of San Diego. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: HGW Architecture SIZE: 18,000 square feet COST: $20.2 million PHOTOS: Auda & Auda Photography
Portals to the past
St. Louis County (Mo.) Library, Clark Family branch
A highlight of the new Clark Family branch is the Emerson History and Genealogy Center that holds the library’s extensive genealogy and local history collection. The space includes six interactive family-search screens and a memory lab where patrons can record their own family histories. There’s also a dedicated room for digitizing photos and converting VHS tapes into digital files. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: Lamar Johnson Collaborative SIZE: 77,110 square feet COST: $40.7 million PHOTOS: Kim Rodgers Photography
Samuel Freudenthal Memorial Library at Trinidad (Colo.) State College
The renovated Freudenthal Library now houses a variety of environments for learning, including open study spaces, collaborative areas, closed meeting rooms, a student lounge with a fireplace and original mosaic art, an outdoor courtyard, a fire pit, a study hall for focused activity, classrooms, and a new makerspace. The lower level was revamped to house the Louden-Henritze Archaeology Museum, which offers visitors an overview of millions of years of the area’s history. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: studiotrope SIZE: 32,473 square feet COST: $9.5 million PHOTOS: studiotrope
Room with a view
Denver Public Library, Central Library
Central Library’s renovation includes safety and security upgrades and a reconfiguration that accommodates modern programs and services while enhancing the library’s role as a tourist destination. Notable improvements include the creation of the Park View Room, with panoramic views of Civic Center Park and the Denver skyline, and a reimagined central hall with open stairs sculpted to represent a folded bookmark. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: studiotrope SIZE: 540,000 square feet COST: $59.4 million PHOTOS: David Lauer Photography
Superior sustainability
Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library, Donelson branch
An ode to atomic-age architecture, the new Donelson branch is a sleek, modern structure with clean lines and a striking breeze-block wall. This LEED Gold–certified building includes a geothermal heating and cooling system, solar panels, and a bioswale planted with native species. To foster inclusivity and accessibility, pictograms are used in wayfinding signage whenever possible, with English, Spanish, and Arabic text included when needed. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: HASTINGS Architecture SIZE: 25,000 square feet COST: $27 million PHOTOS: McGinn Photography
Chabot College Library and Learning Connection in Hayward, California
Chabot College’s four-story Library and Learning Connection is a major upgrade from its previous library, with triple the number of study rooms, double the classrooms, and a dedicated space for specialized learning communities and student services. A light-filled atrium and central staircase connect all floors, encouraging movement, visibility, and shared experiences. The building’s sustainability features—including energy-efficient materials and an exterior shading system that enhances comfort—have earned it LEED Gold certification. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: Group 4 Architecture; HMC Architects SIZE: 97,000 square feet COST: $79.74 million PHOTOS: Lawrence Anderson
Deschutes Public Library, Redmond (Ore.) Library
The new Redmond Library prioritizes openness, adaptability, and sustainability. The building is powered by a rooftop photovoltaic array that meets 100% of the structure’s annual energy needs. Its all-electric design incorporates mass timber construction such as dowel-laminated panels, which reduce total carbon emissions while maintaining excellent acoustics and achieving the warmth of exposed wood. Large flowing spaces, mobile shelving, and configurable furniture invite multiple uses, while creative labs range from podcasting suites to study rooms. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: The Miller Hull Partnership; Steele Architects SIZE: 40,000 square feet COST: $43 million PHOTOS: Lara Swimmer Photography
Honoring Indigenous cultures
Mearns Centre–McPherson Library, University of Victoria (B.C.) Libraries
The newly expanded student space in the Mearns Centre–McPherson Library emphasizes University of Victoria’s commitment to Indigenous values, reconciliation, and decolonization. Key elements include artwork by a local two-spirit Indigenous artist that is integrated throughout the floor plan and a wall-length map depicting the complex historical relationships between Indigenous people and settlers to the region, created in collaboration with the university’s anthropology department. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: Jensen Chernoff Thompson Architects SIZE: 240,000 square feet COST: $1 million Canadian (about $758,000 US) PHOTOS: UVic Photo Services
Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University in Tempe
The renovation of the Labriola Center created a centralized Indigenous knowledge zone on the second floor of Hayden Library for celebrating and engaging with American Indian and Indigenous scholarly works and creative writing. The center, led by Indigenous librarians, is a multifunctional space outfitted with formal and informal study areas, murals, a state-of-the-art performance and event venue, and a circulating collection. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: Ayers Saint Gross SIZE: 4,006 square feet COST: $715,000 PHOTOS: Chris Goulet/Arizona State University
Celebrating icons
Fulton County (Ga.) Library System, Martin Luther King Jr. Library
Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which sits blocks from King’s boyhood home and church in Atlanta, has been transformed from a once dark, unaesthetic facility into a colorful, vibrant space fitting of its namesake. Multiuse functionality was key to the new design: The children’s craft area can convert into a meeting room in the evening, and the teen area transforms into a seminar space during school hours. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture SIZE: 4,224 square feet COST: $983,375 PHOTOS: Rion Rizzo/Creative Sources Photography
Houston Public Library, Shannon Walker Neighborhood Library
Once a forgotten post office, the Shannon Walker Neighborhood Library—named after NASA’s first Houstonian astronaut—is an art-filled public gathering center with high-tech equipment for content creators; dedicated spaces for children, adults, and teens; flexible meeting areas; a café; a podcast studio; and private study rooms. Multicolored windows flood the interior and exterior with a spectrum of hues, shifting throughout the day and night to stimulate visual and temporal awareness. PROJECT TYPE: New construction ARCHITECT: BRAVE/architecture SIZE: 23,260 square feet COST: $16.3 million PHOTOS: SpawGlass
Radical reimagining
Lake Travis Community Library West in Spicewood, Texas
Renovations at the Lake Travis West location highlight the area’s unique country character while paying homage to the building’s previous life as a pizza restaurant. Open-table seating and pendant lights maintain the pizza-joint vibe, and the former drive-through window is now a pickup spot for reserved materials. The library repurposed the outdoor dining space as a covered patio with hanging lights, fans, shades, and Wi-Fi to provide an accessible 24/7 workspace. PROJECT TYPE: Renovation ARCHITECT: Ascension Architecture SIZE: 5,000 square feet COST: $4.6 million PHOTOS: Regan Morton Photography
McCallum High School in Austin, Texas
Inspired by wabi-sabi, a style that celebrates simplicity and imperfection, McCallum High School redesigned its library on a next-to-nothing budget. Hand-me-down furniture, lamps, and plants were gifted by families of students and staffers. Library aides and creative students painted murals during their off periods, with paint donated from Austin Resource Recovery. Soft lighting was used to make the library feel cozy rather than institutional. Costs mostly consisted of paintbrushes and light bulbs. PROJECT TYPE: Redesign ARCHITECT: Jain Orr (coordinator) and community SIZE: 11,000 square feet COST: $200 PHOTOS: Shuxian Liu
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