This five-story 353,000 square foot library serves as a community gathering place and Twin Cities destination. Larson helped design the glass walls and pedestrian bridges for this green building which pushes the evelope of glass and specialty structure design.
Unique Challenges
Two sides of the building have huge glass walls, so energy loss was a concern.
Solution
With two five-story glass walls and cold Minnesota winters, one could see the challenges of energy concerns. To help offset any heat loss of the insulated glass, a radiant heating system was used. Larson incorporated the stainless steel tubes, which serve as the back-up structure to the glass walls, into an aesthetically pleasing, safe design.
