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Welcome back to the Agati Video Podcast, a space where Joe Agati, COO & Director of Design here at Agati Furniture, hosts conversations with designers, architects, and difference-makers to bring inspiration and education to your work.
“The quiet library environment of the past has given way to a library that is bustling with activity.” – Elisabeth Martin
For today’s episode of the podcast, we have a great conversation to share with both Elisabeth Martin and Denelle Wrightson, each architects who have focused on library design for over 2 decades. Elisabeth Martin, principal of MDA designgroup, leads a firm that focuses on innovative library planning, architecture and interior design. Denelle Wrightson is an expert in architectural planning and design with extensive experience with libraries.
In this episode, we dive deep into library trends. What are Elisabeth and Denelle seeing? What trends do they agree on? Where do their perspectives differ? Are the impacts of COVID-19 still impacting design decisions in a major way? What’s on the horizon?
This was a fascinating conversation. Check it out!
Links:
Quotes:
- “The quiet library environment of the past has given way to a library that is bustling with activity.”
- “It’s not just kids and adults anymore. It’s a lot more segmented than that now.”
- “We’re not doing as many desktops anymore, especially in rural spaces. We’re doing a lot more laptops now.”
- “People want choices. They want variety.”
- “We believe it’s never necessary to compromise longevity to accomplish great results.”
- “Acoustics in a space are another big factor today.”
- “New mechanical systems are not always possible in libraries, but there are still measures we can take to improve ventilation and air quality.”
- “A lot of people don’t realize that other parts of the world are way ahead of us.”
Our Key Takeaways:
1) The focus on acoustics is an interesting one in combination with the expectation that libraries are now multi-use spaces. Denelle and Elisabeth both talked about the intentionality that goes into acoustics when designing library spaces. When you have to support kids’ spaces, teen spaces, gathering rooms, various programming, study spaces, and much more, this conversation becomes even more important.
2) “We believe it’s never necessary to compromise longevity to accomplish great results.” This quote is from Elisabeth, and we agree wholeheartedly! The materials you feature in your space matters. Like we often say: You don’t need to sacrifice design for durability.
3) “People want choices. They want variety.” Denelle rightly highlighted the importance of variety in a space. This means something different for every project, but this ties back to the importance of flexibility, atmosphere, and segmentation in libraries today.
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