Pleasant Hill Library Receives AIA California Design Award
AIA California’s annual design awards celebrate the value exceptional design has on the fabric of society, recognizing projects that contribute to a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.
"The way the building brings daylight in and modulates with these special rooms makes it an exceptional space. There is also a strong sustainability program and landscape design—really strong."
We’re excited to announce that Pleasant Hill Library has received a Merit Award in the 2024 AIA California Design Awards! Congratulations to our clients 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. Working with the City of Pleasant Hill to create its first civic building in many years, we created an inclusive community destination where visitors of all ages feel welcome and encouraged to learn, create, and explore. The library’s free span central hall provides ample capacity for diverse offerings, including expanded community events, and allows easy reconfiguration of stacks should programmatic needs evolve. 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.
The all-electric, highly energy-efficient library is designed to net zero energy, and provides radiant heating and cooling, natural ventilation with night-flush operability, and a rooftop PV solar array. Learn more about the project below.
