Photo by: Pankaj Khadka/Leroy Street Studio

June: Our neighborhood library in Sunset Park has been honored by the 2021 National American Institute of Architects (AIA) and American Library Association (ALA) as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award

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We are thrilled to announce that our interim neighborhood library in Sunset Park has been honored by the 2021 National American Institute of Architects (AIA) and American Library Association (ALA) as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award – only one of five libraries selected in the United States! The temporary Sunset Park Library, nestled in the former Sunset Park courthouse on Fourth Avenue, was designed by Leroy Street Studio and decorated with exquisite work by Center for Family Life high school students!

High school students in CFL’s Life Lines Visual Arts Troupe partnered with the Leroy Street Studio in a collaborative process of art, design, and installation to devise a method of providing shade for library-goers on brighter days. The team constructed a unique cascade of paper mobiles that hang across the large, vaulted windows. The shapes, made bold when backlit by the sun, speak to themes of togetherness, vitality, and natural beauty.

The National American Institute of Architects (AIA), an organization to support quality architecture founded in 1857, focuses on cultivating and encouraging the creation of spaces that center community wellness and vibrancy. According to a statement from their organization, the award acknowledges those libraries that embody “design achievement, including a sense of place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability and of history.” 
 
 Despite its status as an interim library, the space is a glowing achievement in Sunset Park. Shawn Watts, a partner at Leroy Street Studio, expressed that the studio is “honored to have played a part in creating this vibrant community hub and thrilled to see how the work of the students from the Center for Family Life elevated the space.”
 
 
The interim Sunset Park Library fulfills a variety of needs with versatile arrangements of space and equipment that serve our diverse community. Leroy Street Studio ensured that the voices of the Sunset Park community, BPL staff, and elected officials were heard in imagining the space. A spokesperson for Brooklyn Public Library noted that the library design, with the window installation “comprised of screens and sculptural mobiles, made in collaboration with students from the Center for Family Life…truly reflects the community it serves, making this award even more special.”
 

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