Children's Library Discovery Center

Children's Library Discovery Center
Children's Library Discovery Center
	Location within New York
General information
Location	89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, Queens, NY, U.S. 11432
Coordinates	40°42′28″N 73°47′49″W / 40.7077°N 73.7970°W
Technical details
Floor count	2
Design and construction
Architect(s)	1100 Architect

The Children's Library Discovery Center, in Jamaica, Queens, New York, is an addition to the Queens Central Library building.^[1] It was commissioned by the New York City Department of Design & Construction and completed in 2011 under the New York City Design and Construction Excellence program.^[2]

The center is the Queens Borough Public Library system's largest facility.^[3] With a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the center recruited specialists from the Exploratorium in San Francisco to design hands-on "discovery stations".^[3] The stations, geared toward children ages 3–12, introduce them to diverse topics such as weather, music, and nanotechnology.^[4] According to Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante, the embedding of museum-like exhibits into a reading space as exemplified by the center is unique among public libraries in the United States.^[3]

The 22,000-square-foot, two-story building was designed by 1100 Architect, with graphics and wayfinding designed by Lee H. Skolnick Architecture & Design Partnership. The exterior is a conspicuous glass façade scaled to match the existing mix of low-rises in the neighborhood.^[5]

History

The library opened in 2011.^[6] The addition of the Children's Library Discovery Center is significant to the community of Jamaica, Queens, as it serves a diverse and marginalized population of New York City. The services provided by the center are not easily available to Queens residents.

The adjacent 275,000-square-foot (25,500 m²) Queens Central Library building was designed by York & Sawyer in 1966.^[7] As the first major branch of an urban library to place all public services on one floor, its design was representative of a new building trend towards functional library design.^[7] The new addition to the existing library was proposed under New York's Design and Construction Excellence program—a federal plan started in the mid-1990s that sought to bring better design to government buildings.^[5] The program, led by Department of Design and Construction Commissioner David J. Burney, guarantees market-rate fees to architects with the intent to encourage fresh young talent in the city.^[8]

Awards

In 2011, the building received two awards: the Queens Library Foundation, Award for Excellence in Design; and the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Building Award: New Construction/Public Building.^[2] In 2012 it won the Municipal Art Society of New York, MASterworks Award: Best Neighborhood Catalyst,^[2] and in 2013, the NYLA-PLA Award.^[9]