Entry number: B09001
Project Name: Centennial Hills Library
Building Type: Public Library
Completion Date: January 2008 (opening)
Building Location: 6711 N. Buffalo Dr. Las Vegas, NV
Type of Construction: steel, metal framing
Materials Used: glazing, stone, stucco, and metal shade structures
Building Area: 45,555 sf

Design Team:
Architect: JMA Architecture Studios
Architect of Record: JMA Architecture
Client/Owner/Developer: Las Vegas Clark County Library District
Interior Designer: JMA Architecture Studios
Landscape Architect: JW Zunino
Structural Engineer: Wright Engineers
Electrical Engineer: Harris Consulting Engineers
Mechanical Engineer: Harris Consulting Engineers
Civil Engineer: Nevada By Design
General Contractor: Rafael Construction
Photographer: Opulence Studios

Statement of Design Approach:
The 45,555-square-foot Centennial Hills Library is built on a seven acre site in the rapidly growing northwest area of Las Vegas. Serving a population of just over 171,000 people, the library opened on Saturday, January 10, 2009, on time and within budget, completely paid for by the transfer of a portion of operating revenue into savings over the last five years.

Narrative:
The project concept was to create a lantern pavilion "on the green" open to the city park to the north. The library design shatters library preconceptions by flooding the library with indirect day lighting, eliminating any artificial general lighting needs. The simple glass box not only allows for brilliant daylighting but is also the first library to offer ease to everyday operational challenges. The open plan allows staff to have dramatically improved visability throughout the facility, something not at all traditional with other las vegas library designs. In addition, the design integrates and illuminates the library into the surrounding environment while offering visitors views into nature. During the evening the "lantern" design concept allows the building to glow, offering the community a beacon in which to center around.

Exterior materials and their colors were selected to reflect the desert and the mountains surrounding the Las Vegas Valley. Glazing, stone, stucco and metal shade structures all result in a modem building reflective of the desert environment.

Interior materials include low maintenance terrazzo, recyclable carpet, ecoresin panels, and linoleum countertops. The curved metal suspended ceiling system is engineered to reflect natural day light to all work surfaces below.

The building features wireless Internet technology making the library's growing digital resources and Internet services available to everyone with a laptop computer or handheld device. Automated sorting equipment and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology will increase the turnaround of the branch's 160,000-volume collection and half-million items the district moves between the branches each month, and get those materials back into the hands of patrons sooner. RFID, security gates and automated materials handling hardware and software provided from multiple vendors are integrated into a comprehensive solution that includes merchant-account eCommerce payment of fines and fees in a custom designed, self-service kiosk for patrons. The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is the first in the nation to work with its vendors to develop and implement such a "turnkey" circulation solution.

Sustainable Description:
The library is designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification. Toward that end, natural daylighting is used to reduce the need for the electric lights through the daylight houses reducing heat gain and cooling costs. The building envelope was designed to produce an efficient system to work in with the other systems to maximize energy performance and efficiency. Other elements include an extensive recycling program, the use of exterior shading devices, high-performance glazing and automatic photocell-based controls. A separate room for photocopying, and paints, and carpets with zero or low emissions improve the long-term indoor air quality of the building.

The placement of the Centennial Hills Library along an east/west axis allows the library through floor to ceiling glass walls, designed in a "Piet Mondrian" pattern, to celebrate indirect daylight from the north and south. Additionally this expansive glazing system frames views to the adjacent city park and will allow the building to glow as an evening beacon for night-time patrons.

The landscaping blends seamlessly into the park landscaping and affords opportunities to view the park from interior reading areas. The landscape is in harmony with the southwest environmental theme known as the "mini-oasis" concept, in which water efficient, desert adapted plants and indigenous species are used in arrangements that become sparser the further away the plant grouping is from entrances, patios and active people places. This design style creates lush looking and cooler feeling areas, while being sensitive to water use and the hot desert summers. Plant types are drought tolerant, water efficient and appropriate for the southwest desert environs. In addition, a high efficiency irrigation system reduces water consumption.