The Beacon Hill Project was a successful study in partnership. A progressive client, energized professionals, inspired artists; dedicated staff and patrons all fueled the design process.

The Project
The New Beacon Hill Branch Library is located in Seattle, Washington on the corner of Forest Street and Beacon Avenue South just south of the neighborhood commercial center of the Beacon Hill Community. It is a culturally diverse community with a large Asian and Hispanic population with almost 50 different languages or dialects spoken. The residential architecture is varied with a scattering of small craftsman style houses among a more predominant post WWII style. It is a pedestrian oriented community with a majority of the population walking, biking or taking the bus. The Metro bus route 36, which travels Beacon Avenue South, is the most heavily used route in Seattle. In a survey of the patrons using the old library it was found that only about 20% of the patrons used an automobile to reach the library. The old 3600 square foot library was located in a storefront on 15 Avenue. It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer but was still one of the most heavily used libraries in the city. The Beacon Hill Library was the first branch to be awarded in the "Libraries for All" building program that was passed by voters in 1998.

Prologue
The Community wanted a library that would serve the people of Beacon Hill. They wanted a building that was not only a library but also a gathering place and a cultural center for the diverse population that lived on the hill. It had to be a landmark for the community and a gateway to the heart of the Beacon Hill community. So the first step in the process was a very obvious one: site selection.

Everyone involved realized from the very beginning how critical this first step would be in satisfying the Communities hopes and dreams. The Seattle Public Library already had formed a site selection team and had kicked off a search for potential sites even before the architects were brought on board. When the architects were finally selected the process was taken to the next level and the dozen or so sites that had been identified earlier were then organized, analyzed, scrutinized, digitized, but, unfortunately, nothing materialized among those sites that felt right. The team then broadened the search and came up with a new site that was perfect except for a couple of "small" challenges. One, the site did not have enough area to accommodate the library's program requirements and two, it had an established business, a bank, operating on the site that was not particularly interested in leaving. Either one of theses "challenges" should have been enough to disqualify this site. But despite these two significant obstacles, a very important team member, the Owner, Seattle Public Library, i.e., David Kunselman, Senior Project Manager, agreed with the team's assessment that it should be pursued. He was very cognizant of the importance of this particular site and that an "out of the ordinary" effort should be undertaken to try and make this site work.

Eventually, the bank agreed to sell the property to the Library and a portion of the "oversized" Right of Way on Forest Avenue was "vacated" to provide the required program area for the library. This was no small feat and more than anything else, it underscores the extraordinary partnership that was just beginning between the Owner, Architect, Consultants and the Community. It carried throughout the design process and eventual completion of construction. The results of this partnership is evident in the new Beacon Hill Library. So this case study is more about the people involved in the design process and how their understanding, energy and commitment led to an extraordinary Beacon Hill Library.

The Design Team
The main participants in the project included everyone. But, the client, The Seattle Public Library, provided the leadership that opened the door for the rest of the design team to become activated and engaged in the design process. The client showed its willingness to explore alternative ideas and its support for invention. This leadership was evident throughout the process and it never lost momentum from site selection to opening day ceremonies.

The City of Seattle had mandated that all new publicly financed projects meet a LEED Silver certification. Although this requirement was eventually dropped it did trigger a design approach that required every member of the design team to actively participate in the design process from the very beginning. It was an extraordinary collaborative effort that all of the consultants embraced. Since sustainability was a crucial element in the design of the project one of the more focused efforts was made to reduce energy consumption by naturally ventilating the building. This effort could not achieve any points for LEED certification but it would contribute significantly to providing a truly energy efficient sustainable building. The difficulty in achieving this goal was two-fold. First, the site for the new library was located along Beacon Avenue South (heavy traffic) and it was directly below the approach lanes for SeaTac Airport (frequent noise from low flying jets). Second, the library required a level of security that would prevent open windows directly to the outside. After developing preliminary design solutions to these issues the acoustic consultant modeled the noise levels that would remain. These were presented to the library and, even though the levels were significantly reduced, they were not low enough to be acceptable to the patrons and staff of the library. The noise from the jets was the biggest obstacle. There were also significant concerns that the patrons would perceive a naturally ventilated building as an uncomfortable building. This was significant in that for 30 years the community had tolerated a very uncomfortable building and a new building that was perceived as uncomfortable would not be acceptable.

The noise, air, and security issues were all closely related to one another so they had to be addressed at the same time. Had the library been located on a quiet street far away from the landing approach for large jets, the remaining issues of air and security could have been more easily solved. With all of the team believing that the noise issue could be solved they jumped head first into these green charrettes.

The architects, mechanical, electrical and acoustic engineers became inventors looking for a solution to the noise/air/security dilemma. The architecture provided high ceilings and clerestories that would flood the space with natural daylight and also accommodate a "stack effect" for ventilating the space. Air had to be introduced into the building and then allowed to exit as high as possible to keep the air moving through the space. This meant there had to be openings to let the air in and out but these openings would also let noise inside. To solve this, the team developed several schemes to reduce the noise levels. The most fascinating was the glass box that ran the length of the clerestory. It was sized and shaped to acoustically cancel noise frequencies by bouncing them around until the sound energy was dissipated but it had a continuous opening that would still allow air to easily pass through. This seemed viable since it would allow air to flow to the outside and also allow light to pass through to the inside. This end of the equation seemed doable. The drawback turned out to be how would the air get into the building from down low without compromising security. A variety of through-wall vent configurations were developed that would let air pass through but would also serve as baffles to eliminate the traffic noise from outside. The wall vent designs that emerged were all workable but they proved to expensive to pursue. Concurrently, during this phase, the acoustic consultant was developing a simulation model of the noise levels before and after construction so the Library would be able to hear the difference and judge whether the levels were acceptable. This proved to be the lethal blow to the effort to naturally ventilate the building. When the simulation was finally presented to the neighborhood representative and the library's staff, they found the noise levels were too high to be acceptable. and the effort to naturally ventilate the building was abandoned.

Despite this disappointment, the team decided to move forward with an innovative HVAC system that used a raised floor as a plenum. This ultimately allowed an energy savings of between 25 and 30 percent over a conventional air conditioning system and also provided complete flexibility to adapt the space to the future needs of the library. The charettes to study the case for natural ventilation were invigorating and provided a stage for creativity and invention. They provided an opportunity for the team members to step out of their daily routine and to cross over discipline lines and contribute to developing a more efficient, healthy and sustainable built environment.