Central Library

Our city is building a new central library. It'll be in the Seaholm District, next to that Gotham looking power plant where they've started turning on red lights to get attention. This area just got the 'district' moniker. It's been slated for revitalization--a Winn initiative to increase the downtown population. So far that initiative has included a handful of condo towers placed conspicuously out of the median income bracket.

Lake|Flato, the architects in charge of building the library want it to represent the character of Austin. They described this as 'essential,' but they had no idea what to reference the character of Austin off of. Library architecture is a big deal. It's one way to judge a city. With the city emphasizing the downtown revitalization, it'll be certain to find itself as a central figure in the community. As much as the architects attempt to represent the character of the city through the library, it's going to end up defining the city in the future.

So far, the architects' idea of the character of Austin comprises some combination of civic participation, diversity, and culture--as represented through music and film. Basically, that's three different definitions of a city. Admittedly, by the architects, a nebulous concept. So they're hosting a series of public input meetings in order to get a better idea. No telling how much these three hour information sessions will actually influence the design of the building, but ostensibly they're a chance for the public to help create the new library. It is, after all, our 90$ million.

I was at the first meeting. Suggestions on the culture of Austin included insights into the city's laid back culture, the presence of a tangible artistic community, the existence of both the old and the young, and the combined hatred and embrace of the homeless who populate the current central library in the afternoons. There were other suggestions that echoed the architects' presumptions about the city, with equal clarity.

The meeting took place in a half empty room with the majority of that population wearing city or library affiliate name tags. I was undoubtedly the youngest person there, and, I think, the only person who really knew how to indulge in free food. Two rows in front of me were empty, in front of them was a not-too-sophisticated Powerpoint presentation.

Undoubtedly it's a chance to publicize the building--to give the public a stake in the enterprise. The project is still 26 months from construction; bidding for contractors has only begun; the design of the library hasn't even been started yet. My camera stayed lonely in my pocket--I had hoped to be able to take snap shots of miniature buildings. In the scope of this project two weeks of three-hour public information sessions seems negligible. The people behind our city have an obvious strategy in mind for this building. Nonetheless, these information sessions are available. So far the character suggestions have been general, and have sounded a lot like uncool assessments of travel magazines. Go. Tell them something about the library. You read don't you? Go to a bar before you go. Austin has been embarrassing as far as I can remember it. Talk about the Bundestag. Talk about a few sections of trout stream. Just go. Don't let them build a library that is boring or annoying without putting some word in about it.