An exclusive tour of Vaughan's Civic Centre Resource Library

Building to have soft launch on May 14 at 9 a.m.

Yorkregion.com
May 12, 2016
By Adam Martin-Robbins

You really can’t miss it while travelling along Major Mackenzie Drive through the heart of Maple’s historic core.

The new Civic Centre Resource Library with its upward sweeping, curved roof and walls made of glass and reflective metal - evoking something out of a Dr. Seuss book or, perhaps, one of those sleek spaceship from the Star Wars film franchise - ranks among Vaughan’s most eye-catching buildings.

But Margie Singleton, CEO of Vaughan Public Libraries, says what people discover upon stepping inside the 36,000-square-foot building is really blowing them away.

“People are just in awe (of the building), but when they come inside they’re most amazed,” she said during a tour earlier this week ahead of the “soft opening” happening Saturday at 9 a.m.

NEW FEATURES

Among the “amazing” features are the digital media “Create It Space” which includes a video room with green screens and a recording studio space, complete with a sound mixing board, where you can cut an album.

“These are going to be a funky feature of this location,” Singleton said.

She’s also jazzed about the central garden courtyard and upstairs terrace where visitors can drink in some fresh air or soak up some sun while sipping a coffee from the library’s cafe.

It certainly doesn’t feel like the staid, serious libraries of yesteryear.

That’s due, in part, to the fact the fun, funky tone set by its exterior design carries on inside.

You encounter it everywhere from the light fixtures to the red, green, yellow and orange colour-scheme, which adorns the walls, floor and even the furniture including the handful of armchairs with sound-muffling, privacy hoods that are sure to be in high demand.

In fact, a lot of thought went into dealing with noise, Singleton noted.

For instance, the teen collection sits in an enclosed room, with glass walls, equipped with couches and cushioned window seating.

The children’s area is also far from the quiet study area.

It offers some features parents and kids will enjoy such as puppet centres and heated floors in the story-time area.

Students doing group work can take advantage of the “collaboration rooms” equipped with a single monitor that their devices can connect to so everyone can easily see what’s on the screen.

Of course, there’s lots of books and magazines too - 70,000 to start with.

Other noteworthy features include self-checkout stations and a drive-through book return.

BEHIND THE DESIGN

When it came to designing the library, the goal was to create an indoor space that incorporates the elements you’d typically find in a traditional Italian piazza, said Peter Duckworth-Pilkington, principal with ZAS Architects + Interiors.

“The idea of the openness of the interiors was about this concept of having a place where the community could meet and exchange ideas and even create,” he said.

The exterior design was meant, in part, to reflect its location between the historic buildings to the west and the new city hall to the east, but it was also intended to signal that this is a vibrant place filled with activity, he noted.

“Libraries aren’t always just serious places,” Duckworth-Pilkington said. “So that’s where we got this idea of these curvilinear forms, in some ways even echoing the roller coasters of Canada’s Wonderland ... which we thought brought that kind of sense of fun.”

The building, which cost $13.3-million to construct, was also built with the environment in mind.
It has LED lights, low-flow toilets and a rainwater capturing system, and two electric vehicle charging stations among other elements, aimed achieving a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver rating.

Still, many patrons of the old Maple Library - located less than a kilometre away - are fretting about the shelf life of their beloved branch once the new one opens.

The library board plans to keep it operating for a year then conduct a feasibility study to determine if attendance remains strong enough, Singleton said.

“The community uses that library like crazy,” she said. “We have no desire to close it, unless people don’t use it.”