Vancouver Community Library Receives Prestigious AIA/ALA Award

Vancouver Community Library, the largest facility among Fort Vancouver Regional Library District’s 15 locations, has been honored by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Library Association (ALA) with a joint 2015 award for library design. The award submission was made by the project’s architectural firm, The Miller Hull Partnership of Seattle.

The downtown Vancouver library is among six libraries receiving the award, which is held every other year and was open to libraries designed by U.S. architectural firms, and that were completed since Dec. 1, 2010, and occupied and in service by January 16, 2015. The Vancouver facility opened to the public on July 17, 2011. The five other award recipients are: Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Claire T. Carney Library addition and renovation, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Mass.; Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, Little Rock, Ark.; Mission Branch Library, San Antonio, Texas; and Slover Library, Norfolk, Va.

The AIA/ALA judges cited the Vancouver library’s impressive design: “The architecture is lovely with beautiful seating areas, great open spaces, huge windows and great view.” Another judge wrote: “Absolutely stunning! Many things can be said about this library because it is what many libraries are: convenient, full of written resources, and architecturally worthy of your time, with a checking system that is state of the art.”Formal presentation of the awards will be on June 29 during the annual ALA conference in San Francisco. Representatives of both Miller Hull and the library district will be on hand to accept the award. The 83,000 square-foot library was funded by a Vancouver library facilities bond measure plus a $5 million gift from Steve and Jan Oliva, and land donation from Killian Pacific. Cost for the project was approximately $38 million.

Contributed by Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.