Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library Bremen, Georgia

Originally built in 1973, then later expanded in 1986, the Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library in Bremen, Georgia, sorely needed to reimagine and expand its outdated facility.  A central part of the community, the previously cramped library was reinvented with open, light filled spaces for reading and study.  Design decisions were driven by the desire to.  A new roof structure, articulated by a ribbon of clerestory windows to the north, allows light to enter the circulation and reading spaces.  Additionally, a perforated steel screen shields the library’s book collection and reading spaces from the penetration of harsh, direct light from the south. The new roof shelters the entirety of the addition and cuts through the existing structure to provide a light filled, vaulted space above.  Smaller, more intimate programmatic spaces are organized along the periphery of the roof, keeping the overhead vault free of spatial obstructions. Custom steel light fixtures and movable wooden bookshelves mounted atop casters in the library’s airy interior are a contextual reference to the surrounding industrial core of the once bustling railroad town.