We’re excited to share that Pleasant Hill Library has been recognized with a 2024 ALA/IIDA Library Interior Design Award! In a release announcing the winners, IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA noted that the biennial competition “celebrates the unique challenge of designing an essential yet diversified community space which fosters education and inspiration,” adding “through their work they underscore the importance of cultivating an environment where knowledge, empowerment, and human connection convene.” Winning firms and projects will be honored at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego on June 29.

Engaged by Pleasant Hill to create its first civic building in nearly thirty years, we were asked to design an inclusive community destination, where all ages would feel welcome and encouraged to learn, create, and explore. The library is all-electric and targeting net zero energy through the incorporation of passive and active strategies, including building orientation and massing, radiant heating and cooling, natural ventilation with night-flush operability, and a rooftop PV solar array. Its free span central hall provides ample capacity for diverse offerings and allows easy reconfiguration of stacks should programmatic needs evolve. Movable furniture delineates zones tailored to youth, teens, and adults, while bringing pops of color to the interior. A continuous south-facing clerestory and large skylights bring natural light indoors, while three cedar-clad pavilions house a ‘messy makerspace’, ‘story lab,’ and a quiet ‘retreat.’

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 and drone photography by Jonathan Mitchell.