July 10, 2008
Contact: Melissa Tornquist, library coordinator, (480) 312-7557
Arabian Library design earns top international award
Scottsdale’s Arabian Library captured the top award last week at an international competition on library interior design.
Scottsdale’s newest library received the Best in Show award July 1 at the 2008 Library Interior Design Competition conducted by the Library Administration and Management Association and the International Interior Design Association.
The Arabian also received top honors in the competition’s category for public libraries under 30,000 square feet.
The biennial competition honors excellence in library interior design, incorporating aesthetics, design creativity, function and satisfaction of the client's objectives.
More information on the competition is available at: http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/april2008/LAMAinteriorwinners.cfm
The Arabian Library opened last September at 10215 E. McDowell Mountain Ranch Road. The 20,000 square-foot stand-alone building took the place of a smaller facility that shared space in Desert Mountain High School.
The new library features expanded collections, public meeting rooms, public access computers and an expanded children's area with storytime room. The library also features group study rooms, a teen space and a coffee bar.
The Arabian’s modernistic design has received widespread recognition. It’s featured in the June edition of Architectural Record. A copy of the article is available at:
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0806arabian-1.asp
The library also will be featured in a design exhibition this fall in Barcelona, Spain, focused on Sonoran Desert architecture.
Photos by Mark Boisclair
View looking west in the Arabian Library
The Arabian Library's early literature area
More information on the Arabian Library and the Scottsdale Library system is available at: http://www.scottsdalelibrary.org/