Location
Nederland, Colorado

Client
Town of Nederland

Scope of Work
Landscape Architecture

Project Status
Complete

Project Team
OZ Architecture

nederland library

Located in the center of town within a residential neighborhood, Nederland Library marries nature with civic architecture at a pedestrian scale. The community library was a collaborative design that took many cues from the surrounding area. Some of its features that resonated with the environmentally conscious public include high-performance glass, daylighting, solar panels, continuous insulation, an air barrier in the building envelope, operable windows for natural ventilation, and an energy recovery ventilator with evaporative cooling.

The one-story building sits adjacent to North Beaver Creek, which feeds Barker Meadow Reservoir, and hosts riparian habitat for an array of vegetation and wildlife. By situating the library adjacent to the existing creek and cantilevering an outdoor patio to ensure minimal disturbances to the waterway, the design enables meditative sound attenuation that brings the outdoors in and promotes passive outdoor use of the deck area.