New library site designs show sizzle

The creative juices were flowing Tuesday morning as the Flathead County Library Board got its first look at three ideas for a new main library.

Architects Northwest, CTA Architects Engineers and Fullerton Architects presented concepts of what could be built on three different sites in Kalispell.

Taken together, they served as a launch pad for what could end up as a blend of all three on an entirely new property. Nothing is off the table yet. "I can just see the eyes have gotten wider and we have something to react to," Mike Collins said at the end of the presentations. He and Roy Beekman co-chair the ad hoc Citizens Advisory Committee on Library Facilities.

"For 18 months all we've had to look at is (data) and that's pretty boring," Collins said.

The conceptual drawings presented by the local architectural firms were anything but boring:

Architects Northwest came up with an angled two-story glass wall entryway into a "living room" for the community, architect Michael Kohl explained.

The living room idea was one of the committee's design parameters, as were 52,000 square feet of space, not more than two floors and 100 parking spaces. Beyond that, committee members just wanted to see how suitable each site might be for a library.

Drawn by lottery, Architects Northwest was assigned to work with the 1.5-acre Flathead Industries main campus between Fourth Avenue West and Fifth Avenue West along the north side of the railroad tracks.

Inside the glass entry is a grand circular staircase to the second level, with seating and reading spaces scattered throughout. A concrete-block wall with the finished feeling of aggregate forms the shell of the two-story main library, where translucent materials bring in diffused daylight for reading alcoves and blue-tint glass opens to the mountains and the skies overhead. The first level opens up to the roof a story overhead. Elevators service all levels.

The L-shaped lot was crammed full of building footprint so the firm proposed a 34,500-square-foot underground parking garage with 18 more parking spaces out front.

Building materials salvaged from demolition, a roof garden, trees on a pedestrian plaza connecting with a potential foot trail along the railroad tracks, skylights, solar collectors on the roof, rainwater collection and plug-ins for electric cars help make the project sustainable and gain points toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, architect and principle owner Don Counsell explained.

Estimated cost for this design came in at $12.2 million.

CTA Architects Engineers designed for the old Manion car dealership site, 2.1 acres on East Center Street, with Third Avenue East on its eastern border. Second Avenue East dead-ends on its south side near the west border.

Architect David Koel said CTA's team designed for the sunlight, the views, even the wind on that site. They noted its position at the nexus of residential, business and industrial areas. They checked on environmental soils clean-up and groundwater levels. And they checked with neighboring business owners who said they would work with the library on parking space.

Underground parking is part of this plan, too, leaving space for the glass-fronted two-story building, walkway from Second Avenue East to a potential railroad pedestrian path, a tower or statue at that junction and a welcoming front entry facing west toward downtown. A bus drop-off would curve into the property along Center Street.

A gallery inside the entry could lead to a bank of low bookshelves and soft seating, with a fireplace at the far end and tall book stacks on the sides. It would open to a second-level mezzanine with daylight spilling in from overhead.

Future expansion could be built to the north along the tracks or to the west by means of a glassed overhead walkway to a second section of building across the pedestrian mall.

Architect David Koel said the site design blends the urban feel with a park-like atmosphere to create a space people want to visit. Second-story views of the Columbia Mountain Range to the east and Lone Pine and downtown to the southwest would be impressive.

His colleague Corey Johnson highlighted the building's energy efficiency and potential energy grants to help offset costs and contribute to sustainability of what he called the 100-year building.

The project cost could range from $13 million to $16 million.

Fullerton Architects designed for the main library's current location on First Avenue West, arguably the most difficult assignment of the three.

Originally built as the U.S. Post Office, the towering stone architecture encloses four stories, the top of which is devoted to Kalispell School District 5. An addition was built to the east some three or four decades ago. It leaves no space for parking or landscaping or expansion, so the committee - and Fullerton - are using a working plan that includes buying Central Christian Church to the east. That, however, is somewhat problematic, as church leaders have not indicated it is for sale.

Architect Nick Fullerton said his firm looked at the library project as "a chance to really set a tone for downtown Kalispell."

The plan requires a strong collaborative effort among the library, school district, City Hall, the Hockaday Museum, the Museum at Central School and nearby businesses.

Fullerton envisions a cultural core that would connect the Hockaday and Central School museums with a flagstone walkway along Second Avenue East bordered by hedges similar to those now at the Hockaday. That would enfold the library in the center - with the Strand and Liberty theaters and City Hall in the mix - where dominant trees would mark the library's main entry facing onto Third Street.

The entry would be located at the current alleyway, requiring the city to abandon the alley. And the south half of the building would be possible only if Central Christian agrees to sell.

Fullerton checked into parking lots a block to the north and south, which both turned up as feasible options as well.

Within the building, he would remove the current acoustic-tile ceilings to reveal the original building's 20-foot high spaces, provide a mezzanine around a cafe or reading space at the west entrance, and use a long corridor to draw patrons to the central area near the main entry. A bit of underground parking would provide secure spaces for bookmobile and other library vans.

If land acquisition becomes a problem, Fullerton suggested looking at the Linderman School site just east of the Museum at Central School.

Projected cost for the plan is $12.5 million, not including purchase price of the church.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com