Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center rendering by Marble Fairbanks
Oct. 19, 2017 By Nathaly Pesantez
The Brooklyn Public Library will be hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, a $15 million development that is expected to open at the end of 2018.
The groundbreaking will take place on Oct. 23 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 107 Norman Ave. Several city and state officials will be at the ceremony, including council member Stephen Levin and Assemblymember Joseph Lentol. Peter Washburn, a policy advisor for the state attorney’s environmental protection bureau, will also be at the event, along with Linda Johnson, the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library.
The former site of the Greenpoint Library, deemed undersized and outdated, closed in July and was demolished to make way for a 14,000 square-foot, two-story state-of-the-art library and environmental education center, double the size of the previous building.
The new library, designed by Marble Fairbanks, will house indoor and outdoor spaces for activities related to environmental awareness and general library usages. Reading rooms for children and adults, lab spaces for interactive projects, and a community event space are also planned for the site. Two accessible green roofs will be also be on the upper floors of the new center.
The project surpasses the standards outlined by the Green Building Council in evaluating green, sustainable buildings, and has received a Design Excellence Award by the NYC Public Design Commission.
Interior of new Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center. Rendering by Marble Fairbanks.
“The building will exceed required LEED goals, becoming a demonstration project for innovative approaches to sustainable design and a learning tool for the community,” reads part of the design’s page on the Marble Fairbanks’s site.
Funding for the site came from a $5 million grant from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund, and over $10 million from the Brooklyn Public Library.
Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center rendering by Marble Fairbanks
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One Comment
It is a disgrace that they knocked down the first LIBRARY to begin with and now they knocked down this one and now their adding an ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER with it! Are they going to educate us on the Mobile oil that is taking 100 years to clear up? And educating us on all the Cancer it has caused? We don’t need to be educated on this! Just go to Calvary Cemetery!