BPL & Utile Host 5th Community Meeting February 10, 2025
Attended by more than 60 people, the fifth community meeting offered more detailed preliminary designs for our new library. It was hosted by BPL staff and facilitated by Utile, our architectural firm, with attendance by members of the Public Facilities Department, representatives from the City Councilors’ offices and the Mayor’s office, and many community members.
A recording of the meeting and the presentation slides are available on the South End Library page of the BPL website here.
Using the format from previous meetings, Utile summarized each of the previous community meetings and then provided revised floor plans with additional details and refinements.
Following the revised floor plans, they gave us a first look at how the building exterior could look from Tremont St, W. Newton S, and Library Park and then initial concepts for the interior of the building including the entrance lobby from the first and second floors and the children’s and adult’s reading areas.
A look at the timeline indicated a 6th Community Meeting sometime before Fall 2025. In the interim considerable design work will take place, refining both the exterior and interior concepts, with the expectation of putting the design out for construction bids in the fall, and construction starting at the end of the year and continuing for 18-24 months before completion/occupancy.
Questions & Comments from Attendees covered a wide range of topics:
· Concerns about the location of the Zero Waste Oscar Bins being inappropriate for the front of an important public building and a suggestion that these bins should not be the sole receptacles for the whole South End. Data supporting the high usage of the bins by residents reinforced the need. Response: Discussions are going on with the appropriate departments and the Zero Waste staff about how best to roll out this pilot program. Utile is considering how to accommodate this compost service while these discussions take place.
· What is the nature of the three staff spaces? Response: Space is allocated for facilities equipment, such as snowblower and other implements, a work room for staff to manage materials, a staff lunchroom, and a Friends storage space.
· Community members had previously voiced a desire to engage more directly from the building to the park and this design represents a lost opportunity for that, despite the good visual connection via windows. Response: For security reasons and issues with the flood plain elevation, there will be only one entrance to the building.
· Do we really need the phone nook? Response: Community members have expressed the desire for a variety of space sizes, including the phone nook, for activities such as interviews or health related inquiries, which in other branches have been well used.
· Will the community room be able to hold musical performances, PowerPoint presentations and will there be accessible parking on the street? Response: There will be presentation equipment, and the room will be acoustically designed for concerts, films, etc. Details regarding street interaction/accessibility and the blue bikes have not been worked out yet, although there are no plans at this moment to move the blue bike station.
· What type of restrooms are being considered? Response: All the restrooms will be gender neutral with closed toilet rooms and open sink areas.
· Previously, community members expressed their desires for a third floor to avoid encroachment into the alley and the park, to promote ease of wayfinding and use of the building, and for various types of programming, such as nutritional education. The issue of internal ease of use has been solved, however, the left side of the building (entrance, ramp, borrowers’ desk) needs more work. It doesn’t foster the integration between inside and outside sufficiently. Perhaps there’s a way to improve this.
· Additionally, the building seems quite “serious” and needs more “fun.” Perhaps this can be handled by furnishings. The exterior is hard-edged; perhaps it could be made softer to reflect more of the neighborhood aesthetic. Response: The next phase of the design work will focus more on the details of both the interior and the exterior. Gratitude was expressed for these comments/suggestions.
· One community member asked about the comparatively small size of the teen area to the adult and children’s areas and was concerned about the poor reading scores of Boston’s public-school children. Response: Not all activities for teens will be held in this dedicated area. For example, SAT preparation classes that are held in other branches will also be held in the SEL branch in the community room or the multipurpose room. All people will have access to the whole library; the space for teens is meant as a designated space for teens to do homework, read, relax, and research.