Pleasant Hill Library, the city’s first civic building in nearly thirty years, is a welcoming community destination where residents of all ages feel encouraged to learn, create, and explore. City and project team, including EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture, Margaret Sullivan Studio, and others, conducted extensive public engagement to identify community needs and define the spaces that would support diverse programming. Community feedback was also important to creating a civic space that encouraged flow between indoor and outdoor environments and exploration of new and revitalized landscape around the project.

The design of the library, which is targeting Net Zero Energy, demonstrates an integrated and cohesive architectural, landscape, and infrastructure solution. The library’s site design involved extensive flood mitigation, in coordination with adjacent housing, roadwork, and sports fields projects. This included raising the finished grades of the library building site by an average of 4 feet, lowering the adjacent sports field to accept floodwater, and creating bioretention basins between the library and Grayson Creek. These basins naturally filter stormwater runoff while also retaining floodwaters when Grayson Creek overflows its banks. New bicycle and pedestrian pathways weave throughout the site, linking Monticello Avenue with a new tree-lined promenade and flexible-use entry plaza in front of the library.

The Pleasant Hill Library team included Swinerton Management and Consulting, BHM Construction, EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture, Margaret Sullivan Studio, Rutherford & Chekene, Introba, Apeiro Design, Sherwood Engineers, and Etsuki Creative, with photography by Matthew Millman. Learn more about the project below.