The town of Plainsboro, New Jersey has a diverse and rapidly increasing population. As part of its planning for future growth, the Town resolved to build a Town Center based on New Urbanist principles, including a denser mix of residential and commercial development, concentrated around a pedestrian-friendly town green. After weighing the option of an addition to its existing library building, the Town, Library and BKSK resolved to build a new 45,000 s.f./$12.3 million building as a civic anchor for the new Town Center. By carefully considering the future scale and massing of the Center, BKSK shaped the proposed design of the Town Green at the Center’s heart. Working in concert with its surroundings, the exterior architecture affirms the Library’s prominent position at the head of the Green. Meanwhile, its interior spaces are designed to reflect the Library’s ambitious program of services in a way that celebrates the energy and diversity of the community. More than just a repository of books and periodicals, the Library program includes an internet café, a children’s science center, a gallery for local artists and a community meeting space, fully embracing the civic role a modern library can play. As a symbolic gesture of the Library’s mission to engage the community in all respects, the sloped roof of its steel and glass tower enables projected video art to animate the new Town Green.
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