Between the Pages

The Baton Rouge River Center Library in Baton Rouge, Louisiana serves as a connection between the city’s cultural and civic districts. After determining a complete renewal of the existing 30,000-square-foot library was necessary, the project team drew inspiration from sheets of paper to create a geometric form as if the sheets were connected at the corners and lifted to make a lattice. A perimeter ramp circles around each of the five stories, giving visitors the ability to view the central stacks on multiple levels at once. This provides an elegant solution to the complex issues of movement and accessibility within library spaces.