The heart of the Vancouver Public Library is a spiraling grand urban room that draws the public into Library Square as both a quiet place for study and contemplation and a vital community meeting place. The book stacks and services are organized within a nine-storey rectilinear central volume, wrapped by a multi-storey colonnade containing reading and study areas, as well as retail and community-facing programming. The Library is topped by a public park and grand reading room.

The design for Library Square includes the Library, a Federal Office Tower, and integrated retail and service facilities. The complex occupies an entire city block in the eastward expansion of Vancouver’s downtown core.

• Collaborators

  Downs Archambault & Partners, AssociateArchitects

• Awards

  PowerSmart Excellence Award, BC Hydro, 1995
  

• Clients

  City of Vancouver

• Cost

  CAD $109 million