Well… have you seen their books and magazines section??
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In all seriousness, here’s my wild idea for a downtown Library for the future:
- a “Great Hall” of sorts, 3 stories cathedral ceiling, glass roof down middle, bookshelves on sides of all 3 stories, walking space on all walls, overlooking the first floor - Like the old school library in Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels” video. Lounge chairs and 4 top wood tables spread throughout first floor, more seating on 2nd and 3rd floors.
- small cafe serving coffee, tea, juice with attached seating - think Barnes & Noble. Profits help pay library employees and fund social programs within
- a desktop computer section, loaded with PhotoShop and other learnable programs - plus tablets and laptops that can be checked out within the building
- conference rooms that can be reserved, a la affordable co-working space (affordable because you’d only need a library membership to check out the rooms)
- classrooms that host public classes on various topics, perhaps in partnership with NC State or other surrounding colleges
- a kitchen that hosts public cooking classes
- art studios that can be reserved (some hourly for local artists that just need a space to finish a messy part of their project, or to just work on art somewhere different for a day; some monthly, for local artists that want a more semi-permanent space to complete bigger projects, think Artspace)
- soundproof rooms that can be rented hourly/daily for musicians to either practice their instruments, or for music teachers to host lessons (I have the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in my head, if anyone is familiar)
A complete hub for education of all creative mediums.
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Speaking of Libraries, a $100 million downtown main library was proposed in Charlotte. The news should break this shortly.
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Raleigh could have a downtown library if they wanted one. All they have to do is work with Wake County and help with the site location and planning. Raleigh seemingly doesn’t seem to care.
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If we’re being honest, Raleigh barely even has a City Hall at this point, let alone a nice downtown library. Maybe they could include it in the new municipal complex (when and if that ever gets off the ground)
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It may have a better chance of moving forward with the new council.
Great idea! 
I wonder if the new municipal complex will have an AH requirement.
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I think that it should have books. 
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Included in my first bullet point 
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I don’t think this has been posted yet. Looks like Charlotte is getting a fancy new library as well.
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Charlotte USA…that tech capital. “Let’s spend $135MM on a building that houses books that nobody actually reads anymore”!!! “Cause it makes us “world-class”!!!..right?
I’m good enough. I’m smart enough and doggoneit…people like me!!!
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Well done Charlotte.
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Wow, that looks beautiful! Well done, Charlotte! 
@UncleJesse Libraries have a lot more than just good books, but FWIW, there are about 400,000 books checked out from the Wake Public Libraries right now, give or take a few thousand. I’ve actually got four of them sitting on my counter right now, and I need to return them tomorrow and check out some new ones, so I appreciate the reminder. There were 4,000 books checked out from the brand new Cary Regional Library just on the first day it was open Sunday.
Looking at books in general rather than libraries specifically, there were 695 million printed books sold in the U.S. in 2018, up from 687 million in 2017. The U.S. book publishing industry reported revenues of more than $26 billion last year.
I think you may need to come to grips with the fact that lots and lots of people still read books in this country, even if you personally do not. 
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Same design team as Hunt Library! (Oslo-based design architect and Raleigh-based architect of record). Snohetta’s at the cutting edge of libraries world-wide these days. Looks awesome. I hope we get some signature buildings like this in Raleigh soon!
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We did…the Hunt Library 
sorry I had to go there, I am so tired 
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lol touché. tbh I feel like the Hunt was very restrained because of NC State. Let’s get some cool shit downtown!
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I totally agree and was just giving you a hard time.Lol And while I do believe that a few of the new buildings in the pre-construction stage will go a long way for DTR, I think that we’ll need a new John Kane developer. But one who has both the ideas/talent and deep pockets in order to put DTR in that next league of truly cool 
I caution you about being too glowing about Hunt. It is stunning and cool but from what I gather on Reddit, students don’t care for it. The complaints are that the furniture is custom, expensive, uncomfortable, and there is not enough of it; it feels like an airport; it is hard to find somewhere away from distractions; the areas that are set up for studying get too noisy.
I have never had the experience of trying to study there (compared to something about six full months of total waking time spent at DH Hill) but this is just a reminder that bold architecture can sometimes miss the mark in terms of utility.
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David, they fact that you will support a $135million taxpayer subsidized dinosaur like library that will generate little to no ROI but don’t support a taxpayer subsidized sports stadium that’s guaranteed to generate 8X in ROI is a bit baffling.
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