Urban Fusion - Mira Loma Library
For this inspirational section of the library, we wanted to incorporate the same open atmosphere into the new extension of the study room with natural light to accommodate the space and surroundings.
Comments
Natural light is great for library spaces, but care should be taken to make sure you are not making a glare on computer screens or damaging the collection with too much sunlight. Think about which direction would provide the best views and indirect sunlight. You can also provide shading devices on the exterior to help out with glare.
That's a good point about the sunlight-we hadn't considered that. We'll have to re-examine how we plan on providing this natural light and adjust it so as not to cause glare or other problems.
Open spaces for libraries are great! I look forward to seeing your final design and seeing how you balance energy costs of cooling the building with natural light. What type of energy efficient windows do you plan to use?
Cheyenne Garcia - Director of Energy and Sustainability
We plan to use solar windows. They are windows that are tinted so that they reflect heat and keep the iinterior of the building cooler, and because they are solar, they also collect energy for lighting in areas within the library that need electricity.
As far as the fish tank goes, we were planning on recycling its own water over and over again. This way, it doesn't use very much water. It will have a filtering station built into the wall making it easy for maintenance to access the filter to change it every so often. The tank will be made of a thick plexy glass which is very hard to crack and cannot easily be destroyed. This material makes this design very energy efficient and sustainable.