ArchDaily reports that Mecanoo and Martinez + Johnson Architecture have released plans to modernize the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington D.C., designed by Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1972.
The architects said their makeover design was to improve “Mies in a contemporary Miesian way.”
In a statement, the MLK library said: “While not final, these renderings demonstrate the amazing possibilities as we work to transform this historic building into a center for learning, innovation and engagement for the District.”
The structure is Mies’ only library and only work in D.C. According to a release from Mecanoo, the 37,000-sm landmark features “transparency and light [that] stand as metaphors for freedom and knowledge, the very principles of Dr. King’s life teachings.”
Mecanoo also adds that the modernization revolves around respect for the original architecture, “while updating the building to a modern library that reflects a focus on people, celebrating the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and culture.”
Find out more at ArchDaily.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Platinum Award: Reviving Oakland's Uptown Showstopper
The story of the Fox Oakland Theater is like that of so many movie palaces of the early 20th century. Built in 1928 based on a Middle Eastern-influenced design by architect Charles Peter Weeks and engineer William Peyton Day, the 3,400-seat cinema flourished until the mid-1960s, when the trend toward smaller multiplex theaters took its toll on the Fox Oakland.
