San Francisco, California

Program: A single-story, 6,300-square-foot public library on a residential street, with stacks and periodicals along the south wall and a children's room, a program room, and staff offices along the north. A side garden borders the children's room and program room, which also has a separate entrance from the outside.

Design concept and solution: To integrate a civic building into a residential context, the architects wanted to strike a balance between exposing and obscuring: much as a house does, the library brings in light without fully revealing the activity within. On the southern facade, a sequence of tall "shutters" resembling the pages of open books offers shade and privacy, while tall windows tucked behind the folds bring in a play of daylight that changes throughout the day. The shades' interior bays double as private reading spaces that together form a kind of indoor porch. A stretch of skylights spans the length of the library and divides the public program from staff spaces. To underscore the residential motif, the architects clad the library with shiplap wood siding, which they also used on the interior in rust red and in a natural wood stain.

Design Architect:
Stoner Meek/Noll & Tam Joint Venture Architects
3040 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110; ph 415-543-5505; fax 415-543-5585
729 Heinz Avenue, Suite 7, Berkeley, CA 94710; ph 510-649-8295; fax 510-649-3008

Location: 380 Bacon Street, San Francisco, CA 94134

Completion Date: February 2009

Total construction cost: $3.4 million

People

Owner: San Francisco Public Library, City of San Francisco

Design Architect
Stoner Meek/Noll & Tam Joint Venture Architects
3040 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110; ph 415-543-5505; fax 415-543-5585
729 Heinz Avenue, Suite 7, Berkeley, CA 94710;
ph 510-649-8295; fax 510-649-3008

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Jill Stoner, Principal, California registered architect
Susannah Meek, AIA, Principal, California registered architect
Christopher Noll, AIA, Principal, California registered architect

Interior designer
Susannah Meek, Principal, Stoner Meek Noll & Tam Joint Venture Architects, 3040 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110; ph 415-543-5505; fax 415-543-5585

Engineer(s)
Structural: Structus, Inc., 351 California Street, Suite 450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 399-1710

Mechanical/Plumbing: UESF Engineers, Inc., 315 Bay Street, Suite 301, San Francisco, CA 94133; (510) 763-4880

Electrical: POLA, Inc., 337 Seventeenth Street, Suite 213, Oakland, CA 94612; (510) 452-8415

Consultant(s)
Landscape: Adrienne Wong & Associates, 333 Bryant, Suite 120, San Francisco, CA 94107; (510) 618-0157

Lighting: Alice Prussin Lighting Design, 931 Pardee Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; (510) 525-3670

Acoustical: Walsh Norris, 225 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 391-2166

Other: Telecom: Tee Com, 760 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102; 510-337-2800

General contractor
CLW Builders, Inc., 1329-A Noriega Street, San Francisco, CA 94122; 415-566-6978

Photographer(s)
David Wakely Photography
544 Vermont Street, San Francisco
CA 94107; (415) 861-7503
dwakely@aol.com

 

Products

Exterior cladding
Metal/glass curtainwall: Efco storefront and glazing

Wood: cedar wood siding painted

EIFS, ACM, or other: Plaster Cement Stucco

Roofing
Built-up roofing: GAF

Windows
Aluminum: Efco Windows

Glazing
Glass: PPG industries

Skylights: Naturalite metal framed skylights

Doors
Entrances: Efco Storefronts

Wood doors: Western Oregon Door

Interior finishes
Acoustical ceilings: Armstrong

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Library Shelving by Ross McDonald

Paints and stains: Kelly-Moore

Special surfacing: Roulon acoutical wood ceiling

Floor and wall tile: floor tile Dal Tile

Resilient flooring: Forbo Marmoleum

Furnishings
Office furniture: Herman Miller Baker

Reception furniture: Circulation Service Desk by Sotirkos

Chairs: Agati, David Edward, Neinkamper, Midlands, ICF, GF

Tables: Agati

Upholstery: Sina Pearson

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting: Peerlite, Delray, Lithonia, Artimede

Exterior: Exterior Vert, Luminis

Controls: Watstopper