The Silver Spring Penguin

The county’s hired guns on Tuesday night showed off Styrofoam models that could spawn designs to downtown Silver Spring’s new library.

The three basic models presented at the Long Branch Community Center didn’t flash frou-frou architectural details. However, they did give a basic idea of how the library would fit onto 60,000 square feet of real estate at Bonifant and Fenton Streets.

The project has a few constraints, Rod Henderer, an architect with the planning firm RTKL, explained. In addition to basic laws of physics, the library must deal with an apartment building to be built on site. The housing is a required element, because part of the new library’s lot was paid for with money from the county’s housing initiatives fund.

The library also has to dance around the proposed Purple Line. While no one knows exactly where that mass-transit ride will roll, one possible route cuts through the library site. That translates to a 46-foot-wide berth, not to mention head room if the building hovers above the route, Henderer said.

And then there are the height restrictions. Buildings along Fenton Street can be no taller than 60 feet, though they can go up to 110 feet off Fenton if they contain workforce housing. By comparison, the adjacent Crescent condominium on Wayne Avenue is 143 feet tall, Henderer spelled out.

On top of this, no one really knows how big the new library will be. Previous plans called for 34,000 square feet of space, but Parker Hamilton, chief of the libraries department, put a more recent estimate at 52,000 square feet. Others want to pimp the joint out even more.

“There is pressure for something larger, but we’re not planning for anything smaller,” Henderer told the audience.

So what’s this all come down to? The three basic models, and a couple of variations in between:

Model 1

Model 1 sets up two distinct construction projects — the library (blue) on Fenton at Wayne, and the apartments (yellow) near Fenton and Bonifant. Both buildings would hang over the proposed Purple Line route.

The residential component could be as tall as 110 feet, with retail space set on the building’s ground floor along Bonifant Street (orange). Residents would have on-site parking accessible through an alley off Bonifant, but retail shoppers would have to ditch their rides elsewhere.

The library would be a shorter building, with an entrance on Wayne and no on-site parking. However, there could be a foot bridge connecting it with the Wayne Avenue garage. A proposed art center would sit above the library (purplish-blue in the photo above).

A variation on this theme — let’s call it model 1B (because that’s what the architects called it) — puts more of the residential building towards Fenton (yellow, above). Because of height restrictions, the building is 60 feet tall at Fenton, then jumps to 110 feet along Bonifant. (There’s a 60-foot setback, if anyone’s counting.)

The library would kick it in the same spot, but the arts center would take up street-level space on Wayne and more space in the basement.

Model 6

The library’s planners had a distinct way of numbering the models (the Dewey decimal system?), so we jump to model 6. In this joint, the library and apartments roll as two distinct construction projects, with the library (light blue) at Fenton and Bonifant, and the residential building (yellow) on Wayne near Fenton.

The library would sit above the proposed Purple Line route, with elevator access through the supporting structure closest to Fenton. That part of the library would be 60 feet tall; the rest of the building would be up to 90 feet tall along Bonifant. This design gives the library up to 60,000 square feet of room on one floor.

About 40,000 square feet of county office space could be built on top of the library (orange), and the arts center could occupy street-level space along Bonifant. And in this setup, up to 140 underground parking spaces could be dug for library patrons.

The apartments on Wayne (yellow) would hover slightly over the proposed Purple Line route, and its height could reach 140 feet. That exceeds the area’s current limits, but it still comes in shorter than the adjacent 143-foot-tall Crescent condo. Breaking the height limit makes the building economically viable, planner Henderer said.

A variation of this gig (model 6B) nixes the office space above the library. Instead, part of the apartment building would sit above the library building (not pictured). The problem with this, said Henderer, is that smacking the two buildings together would make their construction schedules interdependent. That’s fine if you don’t mind waiting for the whole shebang to wrap, but MoCo exec Ike Leggett has expressed an interest in moving the library project forward ASAP, Gary Stith, director of Silver Spring’s regional center, said.

Model 5

In model 5, the library and residences are decked into one building that hovers over the proposed Purple Line route by about 30 feet. Planner Henderer admitted this wasn’t ideal, because it created a tunnel effect that made people feel unsafe.

The arts center (dark blue) would occupy the building’s ground floor, and the library (light blue) would eat up the second floor. Including the residential deck (yellow), the building could go up to 110 feet in height. Underground parking would be dug on site for residents and library patrons.

As with model 6B, this setup puts construction of the housing and library elements on the same track, Henderer explained. Good if you don’t mind waiting, bad if you’re itching for a new library today.

That empty space along Fenton? A public park, Henderer said.

The 50 participants in Tuesday night’s meeting hollered for another shot at dissecting these models, so one more public meeting will drop in early November. (The exact date, time and place are to be determined.) After that, the models drop on MoCo exec Leggett’s desk on Nov 12, and with the county council on Nov 20.

Photos by J. Deseo/SSP.