Cesar Chavez Library / Line and Space

Line and Space, LLC was founded in 1978 in Tucson, Arizona by Les Wallach, FAIA, to facilitate the design and building of environmentally sensitive architecture that respects and responds to existing site conditions. Their strive for quiet integration of structure and landscape make for projects that encourage and demonstrate notions of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Line and Space are students of regional influences and favor the deeper meaning of entry sequence, scale, materials, color and form, all of which are important in successful architecture.

Line and Space’s design for the Cesar Chavez Regional Library is grounded in the beliefs and sensibilities of the firms manifesto. Designed to accommodate up to 40,000 visitors per month, this new 120,000-volume library for the City of Phoenix is located adjacent to an existing lake in a public park. Phoenix, now the sixth largest American city, prides itself on providing exceptionally designed libraries to foster communities with information resources and works of the imagination. Completed January 2008, the Cesar Chavez Library is one of four new regional libraries to be constructed for the City.

Follow us

© Bill Timmerman

Located within one of the fastest growing areas of Phoenix, the Village of Laveen, and due to the  density of nearby housing, the park becomes the backyard for the community, and in the same sense, the library was designed to be its living room. An interior place for interaction of families and friends, as well as a space for individual family members to grow into their personal roles within family and society. There are comfortable, specially accommodated interactive and learning areas for children, teens and adults to enjoy reading and other areas of personal growth and exploration.

© Bill Timmerman

Library Amenities

• 140,000 volumes (books, CD’s, DVD’s, periodicals)
• Estimated 750,000 circulating items/year
• Public computers with internet access
• Wireless internet access
• Computer training lab
• Automated self-checkout service
• Children’s Area with intimate story room, interactive displays, dedicated computer stations, and homework help area
• Teen Center, christened “R3” for “Read Relax Rejuvenate” by students at the adjacent local high school, with high-tech amenities such as MP3 listening stations, a plasma-screen TV for DVD viewing in a semi-enclosed lounge, and dedicated computer stations.
• 75-seat community meeting room

© Henry Tom

Environmental Design Features

• Site Integration

Reflecting the geometry of the adjacent lake, the arced form of the library is pushed into an existing earth mound, quietly integrating it into the public parkscape. The earth provides thermal mass against the building (moderating building temperature, minimizing heating and cooling energy use) in addition to privacy and a barrier from noise emanating from major arterial traffic.

• Orientation

Through appropriate orientation, glazing at the north and south of the building allows natural daylight to fill interior space. The west elevation is designed with no windows to mitigate direct solar heat gain, reducing demand on the mechanical system. Deep overhangs over all windows protect from the harsh desert summer sun.