Scheme will cost $200m

The New York Public Library has unveiled images of what its $200 million revamp of its Mid-Manhattan Library will look like.

The scheme is being led by Mecanoo, the Dutch practice behind the Stirling Prize shortlisted new Birmingham library which opened three years ago, and New York practice Beyer Blinder Belle.

The library, which opened in the 1970s, occupies a former department store on Fifth Avenue and 40th Street and receives over 1.7 million visitors a year.

The renovated branch will have a multi-storey wall of bookshelves, an employment skills centre, a full-floor dedicated to a library for children and a separate library for teenagers. It will also include a free public roof terrace and more seats.

Work is due to start in 2018 with the library closing for renovation towards the end of next year. The city council has handed over three-quarters of the cost with the rest due to be raised privately.

 

Mecanoo NY library

The library will close at the end of next year for renovation work

 

 

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