Photo by ElvertBarnes
The renovation process on the giant glass box that houses the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library has begun.
The D.C. Public Library issued a Request for Qualifications today, seeking architects to submit plans for upgrading and updating the building. The RFQ notes that “no decisions have been made on the type or extent of renovations or additions to the MLK Library.” The downtown library, designed by modern architecture master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1972, will keep its name.
“We seek a design for the library of the future,” the RFQ states. “While we cannot know definitively what that future library will be, we do know that it will have great spaces for children and for adults, for individuals and for groups; space for physical and for virtual collections. We expect inspiring design that will accommodate great flexibility in library uses and in technology.”
In 2011, the Urban Land Institute proposed that the building – which the group said cost the city too much money to maintain – be turned into a mixed-use development and add two more floors. Indeed, the RFQ calls for the selected architect to have experience with both “new construction” and “mixed-use development,” as well as “innovative design, demolition” and “preservation/restoration.”
“The challenge will be to respect the building’s architectural significance while creating an iconic and inspiring central library befitting of the Nation’s Capital.”
Plans are due in late September.
