Project Walk-Through
Appaloosa Branch Library
Scottsdale, Arizona
Jeremy A. Jones, AIA, LEED AP
DWL Architects Planners, Inc.
Phoenix, Arizona
Douglas Sydnor, AIA
Douglas Sydnor Architect and Associates, Inc.
Scottsdale, Arizona
By Nora Burba Trulsson
Photography by Bill Timmerman
 Viewed from the northeast, the library features a roofline that rises towards mountain views and shelters a desert-landscaped patio.
Visitors to the new Appaloosa Branch Library in north Scottsdale, Arizona usually pause a moment to take in the building’s striking design. It hovers lightly in its desert setting, and its vast, angled roof soars and floats above the structure. The exterior metal siding is iridescent, changing hues depending on the light and the angle of view. In short, the design evokes a mirage.
A mirage, it turns out, is an apt metaphor for the library project, which was completed in November. For the past two decades, as the city’s growth barreled northward, a convenient northern branch library was just a dream for both planners and residents. The city’s existing libraries were overtaxed with the influx of new population. A recent bond election, however, finally funded the new facility.
 The $7.5 million library’s creation is a collaboration between design teams led by architects Jeremy Jones, vice president of DWL Architects Planners, Inc. of Phoenix, and Scottsdale’s Douglas Sydnor, president of Douglas Sydnor Architect and Associates, Inc. From the project’s beginning in 2006, the two worked closely together to meet the challenges of site, programming, design and LEED certification.
The land upon which the library sits was once part of Rawhide, a popular, Western-themed tourist attraction that had relocated to another part of the metro area. The area had been rezoned to become a mixed-use residential development, and the developer subsequently donated a 4.4-acre site for the library.
“The site drops 14 feet in elevation from north to south,” says Jones, explaining the project’s earliest considerations, “and storm runoff had to be controlled to prevent flooding.” Additionally, the library site was visible from a curving roadway, necessitating a building design that shunned a “front” and “back” plan, but instead was pleasing from all angles. The building was placed at the northern, higher point of the site, and the land was graded to include berms and an arroyo to direct surface rainwater away from the building.
After numerous meetings with library and city staff and residents, the architects came up with a floorplan centered upon a vast, flexible reading room. Entrance to the building is on the south, via a shaded bridge that crosses a man-made arroyo. Inside the foyer, a long gallery to the west leads to two public meeting rooms and restroom facilities. Staff quarters and book-processing areas are to the east of the entry foyer. The main reading room is flanked by quiet study rooms and the early-learning area for young children on one end and a teen study space, computer area and a cafe/newsroom on the other side. The main reading room can easily be reconfigured. A raised floor allows easy access to power and cable systems, allowing function locations to shift as the years go by.
 “One of the things we learned during our research about this library was that the community really wanted public meeting space in this part of Scottsdale,”explains Sydnor. “By putting meeting rooms and restrooms off the entrance, residents can have access to those spaces even when the library isn’t open. We use a descending grill to close off the main reading room and access to offices.”
The design team did, indeed, use a mirage as the design theme. As the building’s slab was raised above flood level, the architects used the opportunity to cantilever the building’s southern side out slightly above ground level, adding a sense of lightness to the design. The reading room’s cantilevered roofline, which follows a central, cast-in-place concrete spine wall, rises from west to east towards the nearby McDowell Mountains. Clerestory windows float the roofline above the solid walls, as well as the north- and east-facing window walls, which allow maximum natural light and desert views, but shield the interior from the harsh desert sun. Other, smaller windows pierce the library’s southern and western sides.
The most notable exterior element is the iridescent, horizontal metal siding, a custom product and coating, that seemingly changes from green to mauve to silver as one moves past the walls. “We explored masonry and stucco for the exterior,” says Jones, “but it seemed to be too solid, too dense.” The metal material seems to make the whole building look like it could disappear in the blink of an eye.
Inside, the rough texture of the central concrete wall, which separates the reading room from the restrooms, meeting spaces and staff quarters, contrasts with the sleek, cool expanses of glass and the polished concrete of the entry flooring. Carpeting, pale woods, and metal and leather furnishings soften the setting. Two major public artworks--a series of spun glass globes by Anna Skibska and a resin wall sculpture by Mayme Kratz--finish off the interior.
The new library came with some twists on traditional library spaces. Instead of a long, intimidating reference desk, Sydnor designed two, freestanding “librarian stations”--circular pods with backlit, lime-green panels where librarians stand side by side with patrons to offer assistance. Rather than a space dense with bookshelves, the reading room’s layout includes shelving set at angles and interspersed with seating areas, allowing patrons views of both books and the desert beyond. For ease, the library also has a drive-up window for drop-offs and pick-ups.
 Outdoors, the site was landscaped with salvaged and new desert plants. A patio to the east of the cafe allows patrons the opportunity to enjoy coffee and reading in a shaded outdoor environment.
The environment was also at the forefront of the library’s design. The City of Scottsdale has mandated that new city buildings be constructed to meet LEED Gold Certification standards. As such, Sydnor and Jones point out that the Appaloosa Library employed strategies and materials such as 95 percent construction debris recycling, daylighting, low water-use fixtures and plant materials, permeable paving, recycled-content materials, solar power and even a bike rack and employee shower to encourage pedaling to work. Additionally, a screened gap between the metal siding and the building’s sheathing draws hot air up and away from the exterior walls.
But perhaps the best story to come out of the new library might not be in its books and DVDs, but in a design detail--the building’s windows. A seemingly random pattern of small window openings in the north wall of the library is actually Morse code for “The Appaloosa Library” when read from the street. It’s something that architect Jones recalled from his childhood Cub Scout days. “When I was playing around with the design of the window elements, it reminded me of Morse code,” he explains. “I decided to go with that.”
But what about the patrons who point out that the code is backwards when viewed from inside the reading room? “I tell them that they’re inside the message,” Jones says.
Architecture: DWL Architects Planners, Inc., 2333 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004; (602) 264-9731 or www.dwlarchitects.com and Douglas Sydnor Architect and Associates, Inc., 15974 N. 77th St., Suite 101, Scottsdale, AZ 85260; (480) 423-1800 or www.dsydnorarchitect.com.
Interior design: Knipp Design Associates, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ; (480) 993-9182.
Landscape Architecture: GBtwo Landscape Architects, 6115 N. Cattletrack Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85250; (480) 991-3384 or www.gbtwo.com.
CM@Risk: Haydon Building Corp., 4640 E. McDowell Road, Phoenix, AZ 85008; (602) 296-1496 or www.haydonbc.com.
LEED consultant: Green Ideas, 1130 N. 2nd St., Phoenix, AZ 85004; (602) 635-7925 or www.egreenideas.com.
Metal siding: Total Metals, 2025 S. Airport Blvd., Chandler, AZ 85286; (480) 782-9303 or www.totalmetals.com.
Shelving: Arizona School Furnishings, 7885 N. Glen Harbor Blvd., Glendale, AZ 85307; (602) 484-7331 or www.azschoolfurnishings.com.
Early learning center children’s interactive furnishings: Burgeon Group, 707 W. Buchanan, Phoenix, AZ 85007; (602) 253-1524 or www.burgeongroup.com.
Reading room carpeting: Masland Carpets, www.maslandcarpets.com.
Cafe millwork: Kirei Board, www.kireiusa.com.
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