We are excited to announce that Pleasant Hill Library has received a 2025 Library Design Award from the American Institute of Architects and American Library Association. The AIA/ALA Library Building Award is the only award that recognizes entire library structures and all aspects of their design.

The City of Pleasant Hill’s first new civic building in many years, Pleasant Hill Library is an inclusive community destination where visitors of all ages feel welcome and encouraged to learn, create, and explore. A free span central hall provides ample capacity for diverse daily and weekly offerings, including expanded community events, and allows easy reconfiguration of book stacks should programmatic needs evolve over time. Movable furniture subtly delineates zones tailored to youth, teens, and adults, while bringing pops of color to the interior. A continuous south-facing clerestory and large circular skylights allow natural light to flood the interior. Pavilions off the main hall house a ‘messy makerspace’, ‘story lab’, and a ‘retreat’ for quiet reading. Designed to net zero energy, the all-electric, highly energy-efficient library design includes radiant heating and cooling, natural ventilation with night-flush operability, and a rooftop PV solar array.

Congratulations to our client and project collaborators, including EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture, Margaret Sullivan Studio, Swinerton Management and Consulting, BHM Construction, Rutherford & Chekene, Introba, Apeiro Design, Sherwood Engineers, and Etsuki Creative. Learn more about the project below.