May 07, 2008
Up in the sky and under the ground
There is so much activity at the new Library site, it's hard to know where to look first! On my way to work on Monday, I was so struck by how busy it was, I just had to pull over and pull out my camera! As Kate mentioned, the roofing (slate (and gorgeous)) has begun, but I didn't realize until I actually got out of the car and walked around, that the brickwork has also started. That was unexpected and very exciting to discover!
The lights are on inside. It'll be home before we know it!
Posted by BarbaraT at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 24, 2008
Greening the Library
Earth Day, which is now a 38-year old tradition, has become Earth Week, Earth Month, and maybe just Earth everyday. If the websites, fashion designers, authors, activists, corporations and “Green Issues” of every other magazine out there are to be believed, then Green is the new hip.
Environmental responsibility is just that: a responsibility. True stewardship isn’t just a passing fancy, and while it’s great that green is in, it isn’t a hot new label we should slap on everything to feel better about ourselves and our relationship with our planet. There are plenty of resources for going green in your daily life, for measuring and reducing your carbon footprint- the little changes that are doable and that make a difference. But how often do we get the chance to overhaul something big?
The New Darien Library is on track to being LEED Gold Certified- the third LEED certified library in New England (the first at the Gold level). The building’s heating and cooling system will be geothermal, the carpeting and paint will be low-VOC, the parking lot will have an underground reservoir to capture storm water so it doesn’t run off, and a bioswale adjacent to filter out contaminants. And of course, there are the dual-flush toilets.
So, green buildings are the hot new thing and the library is being trendy? Perish the thought. The New Darien Library is being built to stand the test of time. The slate roof is going on this week. Why slate? Well, it’s lovely to look at, but more importantly, it will last for at least 100 years. Large windows? They’re for “day-lighting,” which reduces the need for lights on all day long everywhere in the building. The new building is addressing the environmental concerns of today by being a building of and for the future. We’ll be sure to let you know when we’re loaning out solar-powered jet packs.
Posted by Kate at 04:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
April 14, 2008
Warmer Weather Means it's Time for Shorts!
And...we've got ours ready!
Have a look at our Darien Library shorts. These were created by John Blyberg, our clever, innovative and savvy "techie visionary." (Is that your official title, John?) We think these video shorts are cool, and thought you would, too!
Posted by BarbaraT at 04:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
April 02, 2008
On the March. Progress Continues!
As promised, here's the time-lapse video for March:
MARCH 2008
Posted by BarbaraT at 06:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 31, 2008
The New Darien Library. It’s For You. And now it’s on YouTube!
After more than two years of preparing the site for the New Darien Library, including the necessary environmental clean-up of a long-term contamination, November saw the first burst of major building activity above ground level.
Our webcam caught the action as we began the visible progress of the building, and has continued to record day after day.
We’ve been putting the time-lapse videos on YouTube and onto our website. Just in case you’ve missed them, the videos from November 2007 through February 2008 are below. They are such fun to watch.
NOVEMBER 2007
DECEMBER 2007
JANUARY 2008
FEBRUARY 2008
We’ve gone from dirt to foundation to walls to steel to roof to cinderblock. What the videos don’t show is the mechanicals and the fireproofing, all well underway.
We’ll have March’s video up any day now. Check back here and on our home page and watch our progress. We don't need time-lapse photography to show our smiles. Share the excitement!
Posted by BarbaraT at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 14, 2008
Getting 2008 up-to-date
...on the New Darien Library WebCam time-lapse videos. January and February are ready for viewing! Watch our growth spurt(s):
JANUARY 2008
FEBRUARY 2008
Posted by BarbaraT at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 13, 2008
Neither rain, nor snow....
...nor the Holidays, kept us from our progress toward a new Darien Library! Wait until to you watch December's time-lapse video from the construction site! This one's really cool!
DECEMBER 2007
Posted by BarbaraT at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Who says things don't grow in November?
The activity at the new building site really took off in November! We seem to have just sprung out of the ground! We installed a webcam at the construction site and here's the first of our time-lapse videos:
NOVEMBER 2007
Posted by BarbaraT at 05:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 21, 2008
Never to Be Seen Again
Anyone driving by the construction site of the New Darien Library, or looking at our web camera view, will see that the building's structural steel armature is rising above the foundation walls and the completed first floor slab.
This is a picture I took on Friday, January 18th in the afternoon when construction had finished for the day, and I could walk on the slab of the first floor.
The view is looking up from the first floor through the space of the second floor towards North from approximately where our patrons will enter the building when it is opened in January 2009. From where I took the picture, when the building is open you would be standing on Main Street, as we call it -- the active central core of the building, with a concierge desk, new books, self-check machines and cafe tables where you can sit and have some coffee while talking with your friends.
I was thinking when I took the pictures, that soon -- three or four months from now -- no one will be able to see the structural steel, when it is covered over. And that's really a metaphor for how something gets planned and built, isn't it? Some of the most important aspects of a successful outcome depend on basic elements that are there, but aren't obvious.
You just had to be there on a cold day in January to see these important parts of the new building -- a building designed to last for a hundred years -- before they get hidden away by the brick, slate, tile and carpeted floors, wall board and millwork. We'll admire the parts of the building we can see when it's finished, but we should respect the structure that we won't be able to see, but will depend on unconsciously.
Posted by Alan Kirk Gray at 09:39 AM | Comments (1)
