by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

The Lukmire Partnership’s design for the Falls Run Library’s combines the traditional elements of library service with new trends in public libraries.

How do you . . . design a library that blends contemporary and traditional design?

Summary: The Lukmire Partnership, based in Arlington, Va., has designed the new $6.6 million, 30,000-square-foot Falls Run Library in Stafford County, Va. The new library blends traditional elements with the latest trends in public library design and is expected to be completed in summer of 2010.

The Falls Run Library will be located on 6.2 acres in Stafford County, the newest branch in Virginia’s Central Rappahannock Regional Library system. The Lukmire Partnership’s design for the library combines the traditional elements of library service, such as large book collections and reference services, with new trends in public libraries, emphasizing customer service, displays, new media formats, and comfortable browsing and seating areas. It features electronic monitors corresponding to collection areas, dispersed service desks, a café, and a bookstore-style media and reading area.

The new Falls Run Library will be located on 6.2 acres in Stafford County, Va.

The lead architects for the project are Gregory S. Lukmire, AIA, and Robin Puttock, AIA, LEED-AP. “This library will offer the best of the old with the best of the new, says Lukmire, principal of The Lukmire Partnership. “The library will include the use of electronic media, group study rooms, self-checkout stations, a reading room with a fireplace, and a special ‘beehive’ children’s story room. Today’s libraries are being used as information and educational centers as well as unique community and social centers. They also lend themselves to following sustainable design principles.”

The Falls Run Library is The Lukmire Partnership’s fourth project for the Central Rappahannock Regional Library system, which serves Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland Counties and the City of Fredericksburg. The Lukmire Partnership has completed many projects for government entities throughout the mid-Atlantic region in recent years. It has designed more than 40 libraries in the past 20 years and won the 2000 AIA CES Award for Excellence.