Hunters Point Library at 47-07 Center Boulevard in Long Island City is finally open. The five-story, Steven Holl Architects-designed structure features a soaring atrium with a winding circulation pattern of programs that encompass each level and concludes with a public outdoor rooftop terrace. The bright white architecturally finished concrete walls and oversized abstract windows create a bold juxtaposition with the surrounding architectural language along the East River.
New photos show the vastness of the interior spaces.
Looking up the atrium. Photo by Michael Young
Looking up the atrium. Photo by Michael Young
The ground-floor circulation desk. Photo by Michael Young
The mezzanine seating with adult collections and periodicals. Photo by Michael Young
Looking down from the mezzanine seating. Photo by Michael Young
Looking down from the mezzanine seating. Photo by Michael Young
The windows on the western elevation. Photo by Michael Young
The view of Midtown from the large windows. Photo by Michael Young
The stairs going up to the third floor. Photo by Michael Young
The quiet room and the adult collection on the third floor. Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The Cyber Center on the fourth floor with a curved wooden element in the design of the interior atrium. Photo by Michael Young
Looking down from the fourth floor. Photo by Michael Young
Looking down all the way to the ground floor. Photo by Michael Young
The ground floor contains the circulation desk and customer service, a meeting room, new arrivals and requests, indoor and outdoor return kiosks, and restrooms with baby changing stations. The second level is split between the mezzanine, which features computers for the children’s room, adult collections and periodicals, and stepped seating underneath the high atrium space.
A set of staircases begins on the ground floor and travels up the western wall along the bottom of the oversized windows. This connects to the main second story, which has a media center with computer books, movies, travel books, and test preparation books, as well as the main collection of books for the children’s room. The third floor has a larger collection of books for adults and a quiet room. The Cyber Center on the fourth floor has a number of computers that can be used with a Queens Public Library card. The fifth floor houses the teen area, another set of bathrooms, and a rooftop terrace that should be completed imminently. An elevator bank connects all five levels and comes with ramps on all levels for easy ADA accessibility.
Hunters Point Library stands 109 feet high, is 40 feet deep, and runs 168 feet along the waterfront of Long Island City. Views looking west are oriented toward the American Copper Buildings, the East River ferry terminal, and the rest of the Midtown skyline. The closest subway is the 7 train at the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue station, about a ten-minute walk away, while the Long Island City ferry terminal is only a five-minute walk to the north along the esplanade.
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Libraries are so immportant. Bookstores all over the city/country have disappeared..
It’s good to see the poors get something nice trickling down once in a while.
I was there on Mon. While the views are great and the building architecturally beautiful, the open multilevel interior is one huge echo chamber. You can hear children squealing, crying and playing from almost anywhere in the library, making it difficult to do any sort of serious work or quiet reading. It sounds more like a Gymboree than a library, and everyone, even librarians, do not talk in a soft voice. What ever happened to library etiquette?
Yes, there’s a small cramped “Quiet Room” tucked away in a corner, but inside you can still hear muffled echos of the throngs outside.
I was planning to stay the full day but left after a couple of hours. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to work there.
does it smell like hobo yet?
As became big news today..there is bit of a problem with the handicapped access to the Fiction Section at this beautiful new library..there is no handicapped access..
What a remarkable building and your breathtaking photography captures the library’s essence!