After a year of demolition and repairs, the doors of a 49-year-old library are set to open again.
The Santa Fe Springs City Library has just received a complete makeover and is now a one-story, 14,581-square foot, state-of-the-art public facility.
“The newly renovated Santa Fe Springs City library is truly a 21st century library,” said Hilary G. Keith, library director. “(It’s) a learning commons that will remain relevant and vital in the lives of the community’s residents for generations to come.”
City officials said the reason for the rehabilitation of the library was due to the age and outdated building amenities.
The $2.84 million project, which was headed by San Diego based Erickson-Hall Construction Co., involved gutting the whole interior of the library — just leaving the four outer walls — and providing new partitions, ceilings and interior finishes; new heating ventilation air conditioning system utilizing the existing AC equipment; updating electrical and plumbing systems; and renovate the “Café Libro” coffee shop.The public library will also have new public studying spaces, staff offices, staff lounge with kitchen, restrooms, custom-built fireplace and public reading areas.
On the outside of the library building is the “Reading Gardens,” which will feature a new concrete seating area, artificial turf, ornamental fencing, new landscaping and a new irrigation system.
LPA Inc. was hired as the interior and landscape architect designer for this renovation and enhancement project.
Architect William Pereira was in charge of designing the library makeover, and the city kept the exterior structure to preserve the original look.Rafael Casillas, principal civil engineer for the city of Santa Fe Springs, said one impressive feature incorporated into the library renovation and enhancement was the use of light.
“The natural light was improved by the installation of solar-tubes, upgrades to the existing skylights and a complete window replacement,” Casillas said. “The building now is more sustainable, energy efficient and conducive to learning.”
The project started on July 20, 2009 and construction was completed on July 2 of this year.
The grand opening of the newly renovated library will take place from 12-3 p.m. Saturday, July 31.Those on the Erickson-Hall construction team included Nathan Complin, construction manager; Steve Fleming, superintendent; Joe Weigel, project manager; Christina Jacobson, project engineer.
Erickson-Hall officials said the most challenging aspect of this project was incorporating current building code requirements into an existing structure and coordinating the integration of new systems – like plumbing, mechanical and electrical – with existing ones.