Architects unveiled their final concept design Dec. 2 at the third of three public information sessions on Fitchburg's $14 million public library.
It is a mix of elements of the three designs the company presented at the second meeting, in November - a prairie-style two-story building with a low-slope (essentially flat) roof flat-roof and large, prairie-style windows facing both the street and the adjacent City Hall.
While there might be a few tweaks as the process goes on, the design of the building is essentially set, Engberg Anderson architect Alex Ramsey explained at the meeting at City Hall, which mirrored a similar meeting on the west side of the city earlier in the night.
"We're going with this concept design to the City Council with this plan next week, and if they approve this we are going to be moving into design development," Ramsey said. "And that's where we really get into the nitty-gritty functioning of the plan, to make sure we have the program fully represented, that we have all the spaces that we need."
Ramsey and her colleagues designed the exterior of the 37,000-square-foot building to blend visually with the City Hall campus, she said. That was a common theme in the first public design meeting, in September.
While there is no physical connection between the two buildings, such as a breezeway, there is a functional connection, architect Joe Huberty said in response to a question from the audience.
"The functional connections that we talk about are participation in a series of events and then using technology to connect the buildings," he said.
In addition to unveiling the exterior, the third meeting was billed as being about interior design. No interior designs were presented, but the group showed floor plans with section layouts.
The first floor will include a teen room, children's section and the popular adult section, Ramsey said. The adult section will have a book-store feel with lower shelves and comfortable chairs, she said.
The second floor will house a large meeting room, technology center and the rest of the collection, Ramsey said. The meeting room will be accessible after hours with access to the rest of the library kept closed for security purposes, Ramsey said.
Public works director Paul Woodard said interior designs won't get large-scale public input sessions like the exterior did, but stakeholders, such as the Friends of the Fitchburg Library and the Fitchburg Historical Society, will be involved in the process.
The new concept no longer includes an area for a garden, as was included in earlier designs. It shows large green areas at both the front and rear entrances, with the only surface parking located between the library and City Hall.
It will be accessible both from the current city hall parking lot and the corner of Lacy Road and Research Park Drive and will have 40 underground parking stalls.
Some of the audience members asked about the costly underground parking and why it was included in the project.
"The underground parking was a requirement for the project from the get-go," Ramsey said.
A representative from Mortenson Construction said the underground parking would cost $25,000 per stall, which is a typical price and roughly 10 times the cost of asphalt surface parking.
Ramsey added that the building itself will cost about $165 per square foot.
The project has been a long time coming.
In November, voters approved a referendum to authorize $10 million to construct the library but rejected a $1.8 million referendum for annual operating costs.
At a subsequent Common Council meeting, the council supported a resolution to develop a less costly library proposal but did not support a resolution to show support of constructing and operating it. And in February, the council voted to allow the Library Board to go ahead with fund-raising, planning, and likely construction.
The Council has yet to approve $10 million in bonds, and supporters of the library - who have promised to raise an additional $4 million - have said some potential donors want to see a commitment from the city first. The Linton family, founders of Promega, have pledged $1 million.
Construction is expected to begin in spring or early summer 2010, with the hopes that the structure will be covered before the winter hits to save on winter construction costs, Woodward said.
The concept design goes to the Common Council for approval on Dec. 8.
