Schwartz/Silver was first engaged by the City of Medford to perform a schematic design study as part of a construction grant application. In 2017, the project was awarded $12.2 million from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, their largest award that year, to be applied toward a two-story, 45,000 square foot new building on the site of the former library. With help from generous gifts from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Medford Public Library Foundation, the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library is now complete.

The library offers the residents of Medford a 100-person multi-purpose meeting room; a maker space; a tech lab; a local history room; separate reading rooms for adults, teens, and children; and other amenities. The building’s curved roof forms and plank-lined ceilings are inspired by Medford’s rich history as a clipper ship manufacturing hub, as well as the desire of the city to produce renewable energy, which was achieved with over 600 solar panels installed on the curved roofs.

The project is anticipated to achieve net-zero energy usage on site, and is among the first public libraries in the Commonwealth to do so.

RECOGNITION

LEED Gold Certified, GBCI

Collaborators

Structural Engineer: RSE Associates
Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineer: GGD Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Deborah Myers Landscape Architecture
Civil Engineer: Green International Affiliates
Lighting Design: HLB Lighting Design
LEED: VvS Architects & Consultants
Code: Jensen Hughes
Acoustics: Acentech
Environmental Graphics: Roll Barresi
Owner’s Project Manager: Vertex Companies, Inc.
Mosaic Artist: Glendalys Medina, fabricated by Miotto Mosaic Art Studios
Photography: Paul Burk