Sisters residents weigh in on library design

Sisters residents hope to preserve the intimate feel of the current Sisters Library in a new, larger space. photo by Jim Cornelius

Residents voiced their desire for a pretty library --one that matches the ambiance of Sisters -- at a meeting of the Deschutes Public Library District Board on Wednesday, October 15.

Coos Bay architect Richard Turi presented plans to base the new Sisters Library on the structure of the La Pine Library, which he also designed. The architect and the board reassured the audience of about 30 people that their input matters and invited them to give suggestions for the exterior design of the building, as well as minor changes to the interior.

The proposed 8,000 square-foot library will be located on 43,200 square feet of the northwest corner of the former Sisters Middle School site. The Deschutes Public Library District Board budgeted $1.6 million for the project, which it hopes to complete by 2008.

The existing 2,600 square-foot Sisters Library was built in 1989 and cost $230,000 to construct.

The library will be triple the size of the existing library. It will be a one-story building, with an 1880s western frontier theme, Turi said. While the basic internal structure will resemble La Pine's, Turi said the outside will be tailored to Sisters.

Michael Gaston, the Deschutes Public Library District director, told the audience Turi's structure for the La Pine Library is cost-effective and has been proven to work. But concerned residents reminded the board members of the beautiful features of the existing Sisters Library and expressed desires to have a library which surpasses La Pine's.

"La Pine is very modest," Paul Bennett, the chairman of the Sisters Library Advisory Board, told The Nugget. "Redmond High School and Bend High School are functional buildings, but very unattractive. We're (a) very functional (city), but aesthetic considerations are big considerations for all of us in Sisters.

"Our current library is a very comfortable, inviting library -- the angles of the roof, the use of woodwork, beams, layout. The garden is a really key feature there. You can go outside and be alone if you want," Bennett said.

The Deschutes Public Library System formed a four-person committee which will survey the community in November for public input on the library design, Todd Dunkelberg, Redmond's assistant library director said.

Dunkelberg noted that Sisters is getting a lot of library for the size of the community.

"If we did a study and compared other libraries, we would not be getting this big of a library," said Dunkelberg. "We're going to be able to get so many different materials to you, it's incredible."

The 8,000 square-foot La Pine Library opened in November 2000 and includes adult, children's and young-adult reading areas, a public meeting room and a work room. The single-story building has a pitched roof, gable ends, and natural lighting, Turi said.

Staff from Friends of the Library Book Store said they hope the new Sisters library will provide a larger space for their book store, which currently stores books in private homes because of limited space.

Audience requests for the new library's features included a fireplace area with magazines and newspapers, an art display area, an extensive garden area, a coffee bar, outdoor study spaces, a kitchen with an oven and refrigerator and a dining space able to serve 60 to 80 people.

Gaston told the audience some of their suggestions will be filtered through the budget, which he said has been controlled by the architect and other professionals who specialize in making cost-effective buildings.

"(If you guys want more), you guys have money," Gaston said. "We hear things about aesthetics and when some of them blow the budget, it will come back to the major stakeholders: the City of Sisters, Friends, and the (Sisters) School District. We're going to pay a whole lot of attention to what those people say."

The library will be located west of the proposed new city hall. Eileen Stein, city administrator, suggested at the meeting the library have its front doors on the east side and share an entryway with City Hall.

Stein also said the city will retain the bricks from the demolition of a classroom building and a gymnasium that currently occupy the property. She said the bricks can be used for the construction of City Hall or the library.