Stillwater Public Library

Stillwater, Minn.

To meet increased local demand, the Andrew Carnegie library needed both a renovation and an expansion. Key challenges of the project included alleviating the original library's deficiencies in space, demand, and street parking. The new building achieved all of these programmatic objectives while also complementing the original library’s classical 1902 design. Many features of the original historic building were carved out of limestone. Because the cost of constructing new limestone would have been prohibitive, architectural precast concrete lent itself well to recreating aspects of the original building. The design team and the precaster partnered early in the project and worked for a year designing samples to match the original. The end result is a seamless integration of the new and the old.

Precaster: Molin Concrete Products Co., Lino Lakes, Minn.
Website: www.molin.com

Architect: Miller Dunwiddie Architecture, Minneapolis, Minn.
Website: www.millerdunwiddie.com

Engineer of record: MBJ Consulting Structural Engineers, Minneapolis
Website: www.mbjeng.com

Area: 56,000 ft²
Number of stories: 4
Structural system: precast concrete
Precast concrete components:

Structural precast concrete components:
408 hollow-core slabs
59 solid precast structural shear-wall panels
68 prestressed concrete beams
48 precast concrete columns

Architectural precast concrete components:
300 various pieces, including columns, decorative coping, and incised signage