Work

Strozier Library First Floor Renovation

Florida State University | Tallahassee, Florida

The Library Commons project was a complete renovation of the first floor of the Florida State University Strozier Library. The existing floor plan design included large stack areas, several linear computer workstations, and circulation and reference areas on opposite sides of the building with little space in the building dedicated to student study space. ALW was charged with not only opening up the floor, but also updating the atmosphere of the space to be a more contemporary, yet comfortable place for students to study and spend time.

Owner
Florida State University

Cost
$1.75 million

Size
30,000 SF

Completion
2009

The new program includes spaces for private study rooms, reading areas, an assistive technology area, instruction lab, partner area, circulation, reference, staff offices and a café. The café area includes a Starbucks Coffee Shop that provides support for food service to the café. The café also serves as a space for additional programming and events within the library.

Key design implementations included floor patterns and ceiling transitions to facilitate traffic flow, use of wall colors to facilitate way finding, ceiling enhancements to offset lower ceiling height conditions, opening the study rooms along the exterior wall to general floor space with glass walls to allow natural light to filter in, as well as flexible and mobile furnishings.