Recently, the City of Austin, Texas built an entirely new central library building to serve its citizens, and in designing the building, architects from Lake Flato Architects and Shepley Bulfinch chose perforated anodized aluminum from Lorin Industries Inc. as a central façade design element. The new Austin Central Library building, opened to the public in October 2017, makes full use of the functional and aesthetic benefits of the perforated anodized aluminum panels: many panels provide shade for the building and its entrances, while one large panel incorporates literary quotations that are visible on the building’s floor as light shines through the metal, and all of the panels add to the overall building aesthetic.
Project Background
The new Austin Central Library is a 200,000-square-foot building, serving the entire community of Austin, Texas. The library was designed by architects from Lake Flato Architects and Shepley Bulfinch to be a gathering place for all of the citizens of Austin, with a large, six-story atrium intended to function as “the new living room for Austin,” explained Jonathan Smith of Lake Flato Architects. Around the edges of the atrium, there are a variety of spaces designed for different kinds of activities, including public computers, shared learning rooms, co-working spaces, and more. The rest of the building features a number of other dedicated spaces: a traditional quiet reading room, half of an entire floor of the six-story building dedicated to children and teens, and plenty of space for books and other lendable materials. On top of it all is a rooftop outdoor reading garden, with a live shade oak tree growing atop the 6th floor roof.