Brentwood library unveils concept design for new teen 'team space'

Library staff and the city's design consultant presented a concept for a renovated teen "team space" aimed at giving older youth a more collegiate study environment while preserving the library's historic character. Meredith Gardell, an architect with Daniels Chandler, said the team combined feedback from a teen survey and the library's advisory board to produce an "enlightened academia" palette and a layout that moves shelving to the perimeter and creates multiple small study rooms for group work.

Gardell described the central design moves as moving the entry to create a vestibule, adding arched built-in window seating and increasing visibility while keeping a lounge feel. "When this RFU came out, we visited the library, really inspired by the natural light, the park setting ... and we dreamt big," Gardell said. Staff emphasized the presentation was a concept phase; lighting, furniture and some finishes will be finalized in later construction documents. The designer estimated the new space at about 1,800 square feet and said detention of finishes and construction timeline remain to be validated with contractors.

Commissioners and staff asked detailed implementation questions including where teen collections and furniture will be staged during construction, whether the new windows reduce current storage, and how lighting would accommodate evening study. The library director said teens will be relocated temporarily into meeting rooms and other library areas during construction and that surplus or repurposed furniture would be handled following the renovation plan. Staff will return with construction documents, cost validation and a proposed schedule after receiving the commission's conceptual direction.