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Welcome back to the Agati Video Podcast, a space where Joe Agati, COO & Director of Design here at Agati Furniture, hosts conversations with designers, architects, and difference-makers to bring inspiration and education to your work.
Joe had the opportunity to talk with several guests about how a library redesign project has gone from ideation to implementation. Each of our guests, including our team here at Agati, have been working together on an incredible redesign of the John C. Hitt Library at the University of Central Florida, which has been in the works since 2003.
To help take a deeper look at this redesign is Frank Allen, Senior Associate Director of the John C. Hitt Library; Amanda Rienth, a Principal at Steinberg Hart with extensive expertise in both public and academic libraries; and Delia Nevola, the Principal-in-Charge of the project with Steinberg Hart with expertise in higher education, library spaces, and more.
In this conversation, we discussed the history of this library redesign project, what has been working now that they’re utilizing the redesigned space, and what lessons were learned from such a robust project.
Check it out:
Related Links:
- Frank Allen on Designing a 21st-Century Library | Episode 15
- Malcolm Holzman + Amanda Rienth on Designing for Public Use and Creating a Library for the 21st Century | Episode 7
- John C. Hitt Library
- Inside the John C. Hitt Library Renovation
Key Quotes:
- “Our guiding principles for this project are innovation, space for gathering and collaboration, distinctive identity, partnership with community, and active design. These have led the way through every stage of the project.”
- “The best use of this space was no longer a ‘book warehouse.’ If I had to describe this project in a sentence or two, it would be a repurposing of tens of thousands of square feet of space from book space to people space.”
- “The obvious benefit of doing it one slice at a time is that we are able to go back and do minor little course corrections.”
- “How do you build things right so students will want to use it? We were mindful in our furniture selection and architectural interventions to make sure it feels good to be in the space.”
- “Power is like oxygen to students now. We have power now to 85-90% of the seating.”
- “We really wanted to create a cohesive building so that no one felt like they were in the ‘old’ or ‘new’ part of the building.”
- “People’s behavior tells you what is working.”
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