Image courtesy DCPL

The Examiner reports today that there’s a little bit of controversy brewing over the design for the new Washington Highlands public library branch in Southwest. No big surprise there: when it comes to public libraries in the District, suddenly everyone’s an architecture critic. The main arguments presented in the Examiner story seem to be that the design, by famous British architect David Adjaye, is just too weird and doesn’t “fit the neighborhood.” Presumably, the ANC commissioner quoted in the story would rather have some kind of more classical, square brick building that blends in with the rowhouses around it. Personally, I think it looks pretty rad, but that’s the thing about aesthetics, I guess. You can’t ever please everyone.

How do you feel about the proposed design?