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Date: 4/25/2023
SHUTESBURY — At a public meeting on April 11 Matthew Oudens, principal of Oudens Ello Architects of Boston, introduced residents to three versions of the library to be built on Leverett Road. Elevations for each of the possible designs, drawings of how the building will look, with internal layouts, whet the appetites of future patrons.
Oudens began by describing the features of the site that significantly limit where the building can be located. Wetlands trigger 100-foot and 50-foot buffer zones. Another buffer zone is triggered by the need to protect a neighbor’s wellhead. There was only a single path available for the driveway accessing the site from Leverett Road.
“The best area for the new library is in this spot between the two 100-foot buffers,” Oudens said, “and coming in from Leverett Road, threading between the 50-foot buffers, back to the building and parking.”
Stormwater management and hopes for net zero energy consumption prompted a single slope roof that will direct rainwater into a central rain garden, away from the wetlands. A sprinkler system makes underground water storage tanks necessary. Runoff from the 16-car parking lot will need to be directed and controlled. Options for laying out the septic system were limited.
Oudens, architect for many libraries in the commonwealth, offered a suggestion of the overall aesthetics of the library building.
“In all of these we’re imagining buildings that are heavy timber construction,” Oudens said. “Massachusetts lumber is extremely nice … It’ll be milled offsite, then built onsite fairly quickly.”
Oudens presented floor plans with blue and white spaces, the blue areas being those that stay open after hours. With option two, visitors coming in from the parking lot would enter past the covered front porch, into the vestibule and lobby and see a meeting room to the left, large enough to seat 60. In the far wall of the meeting room, doors exit into the outdoor covered program areas.
Turning in the opposite direction, walking north, a patron would cross the tiled lobby to enter the circulation and computer areas, two reading rooms to the right. The adult and child libraries share the north end of the building.
The meeting room, lobby and reading rooms are open to a wooden structure above, built of the heavy timbers Oudens mentioned. Commercial grade heat pumps will provide heat and likely fit in a utility closet.
The third option introduced by the architect features an L-shaped building. Oudens liked the layout because it works to define the outdoor program spaces and creates strong separation from the parking area. All three designs are similar in size.
Oudens described the timeline for the steps in the design and construction process, beginning with the schematic design stage for a 6,000-square-foot structure. After that three month process the project goes to an estimator for two or three weeks, who comes up with prices for elements and the whole project. The design development stage then gets more specific about materials and structural systems. Construction documents will take four-and-a-half months to complete.
The new library will open in the spring of 2025.
A large number of residents came to ask the architect about the details. The questions revealed residents’ concerns have more to do with usability and aesthetics than larger structural issues. Wendy Houle and a Zoom attendee both asked about window views, for example, which Ouden’s agreed are important.
“That reciprocity, of those outside looking in, is so valuable,” Oudens said.
Linda Sideman asked after sound dampening between the adult and child libraries. Questions arose about the comfort of employees and patrons walking on a concrete slab. Which plan gave the best sight lines for the librarian? Why are the buildings so tall if they’re all one story?
Resident Steven Bessler asked if any other designs, more in character with the community, were considered.
“Have you considered any other roof line that might sit better with the town?” Bessler asked. “I would love to see a library that somehow reflects Shutesbury a little bit. I don’t see that here.”
Cindy Mosher echoed Bessler. Her question emphasized how important the connection between indoor and outdoor activity spaces are to the design.
Mosher said, “I’m wondering if the places where people are present, outside the library, could be more designed in to soften the lines of the building, and represent what a library is for the people of the town, which is a place for people to be.”
Oudens was asked which design he preferred. He recommended design option two. Elaine Puleo, chair of the Library Building Committee, told residents her committee would make the final decision among the designs. She then staged an informal straw poll to see which version residents preferred.
Among those present, in person and online, the results were clear. Not one resident preferred design one. Design three received 11 votes while design two received 46 votes.
At its April 18 meeting the Library Building Committee chose to move forward with design option two.
“Some residents raised questions about the roofline,” Library Director Anne Marie Antonellis said. “Everyone is confident the single slope roof, angled south, will give us enough real estate to generate enough electricity to run the library…It’s an efficient design and looks great from the road.”