The Costa Mesa Donald Dungan Library is one part of the larger Lions Park Project which includes construction of the new 22,500-square-foot library, renovation of the existing 8,000-square-foot library building in the park to become a new community meeting center seating 300 people, re-development of a portion of the 10-acre Lions Park and construction of a new park cafe.

The architecture of the new library channels flamboyant mid-20th century modernist architecture, but also looks back several hundred years to the austere and sublime beauty of California’s missions, models of exuberant yet restrained grandeur accomplished with economical means.

A park master planning effort preceded the design and construction of the library. Smart land use planning yielded an additional acre of park open space in this dense urban neighborhood. The compact two-story configuration of the new library, removal of an existing surface parking lot from the park interior, removal of an outdated single story 70’s era community meeting center and re-purposing of the existing 8,000-square-foot library building as the new community meeting center enabled the creation of new open space.

The new park is an extension of library programming providing shaded outdoor reading gardens and plentiful seating for work, study and social gathering. The great lawn and surrounding promenades also host event space for book fairs, outdoor movie screenings, theater-in-the-park, as well as providing a new venue for farmers’ and craft markets. The ground floor Children’s Library opens directly to an outdoor learn/play area that in turn connects to a children’s playground in the park. The Marketplace at the ground floor entrance features new book arrivals, automated self-check stations, a customer service desk and a Friends-of-the-Library book sale area that is prominently located at the central stair and elevator that provides access to the second floor collections and seating. The library building contains two community meeting rooms, completing with the new community meeting center a public meeting and event center for this neighborhood.