Through this project, the Glendale Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library relocated one of the busiest branches in the system, from its previous location in the Glendale Town Center to a new, standalone building embedded within a residential neighborhood. Our design team carried out a wide-reaching community engagement process that influenced the early design decisions for the project, particularly the building massing, material choices, and building programming. The design respects the scale of the surrounding neighborhood while still giving the presence of an important civic and community building.
Our team worked with IndyPL to ensure priorities in stewardship of natural resources as well as energy and material conservation goals were accomplished in the building design. The new library will have easier access for patrons, more daylight and study spaces, and modernization of overall service capability. The Branch will also have drive-up material returns, access to public transportation, a community meeting room with a capacity of 100 people, and LEEDv4 Gold Certification.
The Glendale Branch Library is designed to consume rougly 75% less energy than the benchmark library. This is measured by ‘energy use intesity,’ or EUI, which is a measure of how much energy the building consumes relative to its total floor area. As the library was designed, energy modeling was used to predict the EUI. Like miles per gallon for cars, EUI is the prime indicator of a building’s energy performance.