Description

An exuberant exploration of geometry, ImaginOn is a collaboration of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library and the Children’s Theater. Dedicated to philanthropists Joe and Joan Martin, this 10,590 m² project extending over one city block of downtown Charlotte has drawn record numbers of visitors since its opening in 2005.

Part library, part theater, ImaginOn is a unique amalgamation of public and private investments with a shared mission to bring “stories to life through extraordinary experiences that challenge, inspire and excite young minds”, as postulated on the library’s website. It consists of a vast parallelogram-shaped open-plan structure, intersected by volumes defined by programmatic elements that include two theaters, production studios, scene and paint shops, dressing rooms, a technology center and a library. With the aim of creating “experience”, the open plan and the lack of architectural clues allow a child to move randomly from one attraction to the next, creating a new and different encounter each time. A curving ramp connecting the two floors is one discernible element of architectural order in a riotous array of shapes, colors and materials. Several environmental strategies have resulted in a LEED Silver rating for the building in the U.S. Green Building Council’s certification program.

The new library program comprises the Spangler Library for young children, the Story Lab, a space called ”The Loft” for teens from ages 12 to 18 and Tech Central with more than 30 computer stations, a demonstration classroom and a multi-media production studio with blue-screen technology. The relocation of the ­children’s department from the main Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in 2005 to its new home in ImaginOn carried on a century of history that began with the library’s opening in 1903 as a Carnegie Free Library. The upgrade is evident in scale and digital sophistication. And the removal of the children’s library from the main public library and the resultant loss of interaction with adult services are believed to be compensated for by a different type of interaction. With a fully integrated services approach exemplified by the coexistence of the circulation desk and box office as a single space, library users co-mingle freely with the users of the theater, with the anticipated result of an enriched experience.

At a time when libraries strive to redefine themselves in the age of electronic media, ImaginOn’s objective to provide the experience of the written word in its many present-day forms – spoken, electronic, visual – is one solution. In choosing a path of sensory stimulation, ImaginOn tackles this problem in a distinctly American fashion.

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Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.