The Hazel McCallion Central Library Revitalization is a major renovation and addition project located in the downtown core of Mississauga—a large bedroom community immediately west of Toronto, Canada, with a population of 713,000. The central library, located adjacent to City Hall, is used not only for library services but also houses the central administration and logistic support to all 17 branch libraries throughout the city. The scope of the project involved a complete interior renovation to all five floors of the existing building and the construction of a 465 square metre addition at the highest level. The aspiration was to transform this tired central library facility into a vibrant and contemporary public institution.

The transformed facility features a new technology-focused digital hub at the lowest level with facilities for events, lectures and seminars. The other levels of the library feature public-facing collections, a library café, flexible event space, bookable classrooms and meeting areas, an automatic book sortation system, quiet study rooms for different sized groups, teen area, children and family areas, a municipal business enterprise center, gallery exhibition space, the refurbished Noel Ryan Auditorium, bookable community classrooms, and flexible areas for open study, as well as the administrative spaces needed to run the other libraries within the city, and collaborative, multi-generational digital and manual maker spaces.

The design concept for this project began with an understanding of the context, specifically, the existing post-modern design that houses the collection. The first part of the design process involved drawing, analyzing, and understanding this rather heavy-handed example of post-modernism. This process helped us to develop respect and appreciation for the found condition but also an understanding of its limitations as a public building. This led to an aspiration to radically alter the interior environments, and to affect change to the exterior by way of a series of contemporary, light, glazed and glowing interventions that help to project a new vision and user experience for this important civic institution. The resulting design implements a new geometric language and material vocabulary throughout and opens up floor plates to perceptually unify two formerly separated atrium spaces so that they function as one, bringing light, experience and legible connection to all levels of the building.

Sustainable features of the project include daylight harvesting sensors for lighting, extensive use of dimmable energy efficient LED lighting throughout, use of large extents of new glazed curtain wall to maximize daylighting throughout, general opening of all floor plates to allow atrium skylights to help maximize daylighting, use of low VOC and locally available materials, custom ceramic frit patterns and low E coatings on glazing and the use of occupant sensors for heating and cooling requirements.