South Hadley Public Library 4.18

The South Hadley Public Library overlooks the Connecticut River, the Holyoke Dam and America’s first navigable canal. The new library is designed to recall South Hadley's heritage as a mill town, combining traditional mill architecture with modern library design while reconnecting the community to the river.

The new library is a two story, masonry and steel building with larger windows facing south towards the falls and river. The first floor houses the meeting facilities, circulation desk and work spaces, new books and audio visual collections, the Children's Library and storytime room. The upper floor is home to Adults, Teens, and Local History collections.

The building is organized to provide an easy to use facility for both patrons and staff. Vertical and horizontal circulation patterns intersect at the center of the floor plan, with a focus on natural way finding so that staff can spend more time providing library services.

Staff and administrative spaces are consolidated so that staff can cooperate and support one another. Closed spaces and stack areas are housed on the street side of the building, leaving open spaces adjacent to the river and south facing windows for reading, study, and gathering spaces.