Winter Park Library & Events Center
Architect: Adjaye Associates
Location: Winter Park, Florida
Type: Library, Events Center
Year: 2021
Photographs: Dror Baldinger, Ivane Katamashvili
“It’s been humbling and inspiring to work together with the City of Winter Park and the many local champions of this project to realize this 21st century prototype of a multi-purpose knowledge campus in the public realm. As a centerpiece of the revitalized MLK Jr. Park, the new campus is designed as a robust space for community gathering, edification and empowerment.”
David Adjaye
The following description is courtesy of the architects. Sited on the Northwest corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, this new civic and cultural hub embodies the values of the park’s namesake and is envisioned as a space for community empowerment and edification. As part of an extensive revitalization of the park, the new hub is in harmony with the unique tropical ecology of the site and is conceived as a micro-village of three pavilions, each of different scale and function but which share a common formal language. The village is comprised of a new two-story library, an event center with rooftop terrace, as well as a new welcome portico that ushers users from the street and unifies the three structures. Guided by biophilic design principles, all three pavilions–composed of rose-pigmented concrete– rest on a raised belvedere that provides idyllic views onto Lake Mendsen , increasing connectivity to the park’s wellness offerings and supporting a new network of exterior green community spaces that run between the three structures.
Arches, inspired both by local fauna and the region’s vernacular architecture, establish the form of the pavilions, with vaulted rooflines and sweeping windows creating a porous relationship between interior and exterior, drawing natural light deep into the buildings. The diverse program includes flexible floor plates for both the library and events center, encouraging cross-pollination and maximizing adaptability for each.
The library’s open plan supports collection spaces accessible to all ages and abilities, interactive youth and children areas, an indoor auditorium, maker-spaces and technology portals, an entrepreneurship center, and continuing education spaces, extending the means by which the entire community can interact, learn, and gather. These open spaces are framed by four timber-lined cores that contain Winter Park’s historical and archival collection spaces, support zones, and private reading rooms.
Dror Baldinger 
Dror Baldinger Dror Baldinger
The events center features a flexible auditorium space and a rooftop terrace that offers expansive views of the lakeside park setting. Creating parity between the civic library space and the commercially focused event center, both buildings feature a signature sculptural stair.
As an ensemble, the Winter Park Library & Events Center comes together as a space of social gathering, intellectual nourishment, and enhanced connection to its natural tropical context.
Sustainability Strategies
Stormwater Irrigation
Stormwater management is centralized below the parking lot structure. Stormwater percolates through the porous parking structure to a subbase of granite and eventually collects in the adjacent Lake Mendsen after the surge. As part of the irrigation system, the water is then reused to hydrate the lush, natural landscape surrounding the library.
Solar Panel Energy Production
Solar panel modules installed with a total of 25.1 KW capacity. Annual production is estimated to be 37,865 KWH.
Locally Sourced Materials
• All exterior materials are registered in Florida
• Pre-cast façade material within 25 miles of the site
• All vegetation is native and regionally sourced
• All interior materials are nationally sourced
Passive Design Strategies
• Building overhangs provide direct shading especially with south facing glass.
• Curved exterior walls provide wings to help shade the glass along the corners.
• Angled glass provides lower angles of solar incidence that allow more reflection of direct sunlight thereby reducing the solar heat and gain, while providing natural light.
• Continuous exterior insulation on the precast concrete reduces direct energy loss through the exterior.
• High thermal mass structure provides means to absorb heat and humidity thereby reducing peak loads and allowing space temperature and humidity to be more consistent.
• Orchestrated orientation of the three structures work off of each other to create moments of shade to programs of each. Events Center provides shade for Library events in the morning, Library provides shade for the Events Center in the late afternoon.
The orientation of the three structures is based off of the solar path enabling the Events Center to provide shade to the Library for morning programming while the Library provides shade to the Events Center for late afternoon activity. The orientation of the two buildings also provides a shaded micro climate between the Library and Events Center further connecting the public space of the campus.
Project Details
- Client: The City of Winter Park
- Total Project Budget: $41.7M
- Size: Library: 35,155 sqft
- Events Center: 18,200 sqft
- Porte Cochère: 2,457 sqft
Design Team
- Design Architect: Adjaye Associates
- Architect of Record: HuntonBrady Architects
- Acoustical Design: Gary Seibein
- Civil Engineer & Landscape Architect: Land Design
- Envelope Consultant: Thornton Tomasetti
- Food Service Design: Phil Bean
- General Contractor: Brasfield & Gorrie
- Owner’s Representative: The Pizzutti Companies
- Signage Consultant: Poblocki
- Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection Engineer + Audio Visual & Security: TLC Engineering
Program
Library
- Collection spaces
- Computer lab
- Indoor auditorium
- Makerspaces
- Youth Spaces
- Recording Studio
- Entrepreneurship Center with technology portals, a business center, and continuing education spaces
Events Center
- Grand Ballroom for large gatherings, meetings, and events [up to 250 seated at tables or 320 seated theater-style]
- Rooftop Meeting Room [up to 50 guests]
- Rooftop Terrace overlooking Martin Luther King, Jr. Park [up to 150 guests]
- Tiedtke Amphitheatre for events and performances
- Tiered outdoor seating for event viewing or simply relaxing
- Pre-event rooms for weddings and special occasions
Porte Cochère
• Easy & convenient pick up/drop off of guests
