A First Look at Mecanoo's NYPL Renovation

The rendering comes just over a year after Mecanoo was selected to renovate two NYPL facilities: the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and the Mid-Manhattan Library, which sit catercorner to each other at Fifth Avenue and 40th Street in Midtwon Manhattan. Unlike the landmark Schwarzman Building – a Beaux-Arts design by Carrère & Hastings that was completed in 1911 – the Mid-Manhattan branch is hardly a beloved library. It is in need of a renovation, and the rendering of the stacks – or "Long Room," as the architects call it – is a promising start: replacing the dark, horizontal floor plates with lightness and verticality.

Some of the project's features, per a press release from Mecanoo:

• More public space (by 35 percent) than the current Mid-Manhattan Library
• Capacity for approximately 400,000 books and other circulating materials
• The only rooftop terrace in Midtown that will be free and open to the public
• A dedicated business library occupying an entire floor
• An adult learning center
• A floor of dedicated space for children and teens
• Over 11,000-square-feet of multipurpose space

The new plan, led by Francine Houben of Mecanoo and Elizabeth Leber of Beyer Blinder Belle, follow from NYPL's unsuccessful attempt to close the Mid-Manhattan Library and move it into the Schwarzman Building, which would have been renovated by Norman Foster. The NYPL abandoned those plans in 2014 after much opposition to the $1 billion project.

The Mid-Manhattan Library is expected to close for two years at the end of 2017 for the $200 million renovation.