Johnson Favaro has been commissioned to redesign a comprehensive library master plan for the University of California, Los Angeles, to be completed in the coming year. The master plan will include seven out of the ten libraries located across UCLA’s Westwood campus, which include Young Research, East Asian, Special Collections, Biomedical, Science and Engineering, Music and Management.
With the introduction of the world wide web, the University anticipated that the nature of libraries on campus and how students and researchers interact with them would change. Today, approximately 3.4 million users access the UCLA library system online every year, and each year around 3.5 million visitors continue to utilize the libraries in person. Responding to the concept of the 21st-century library, the University has engaged Johnson Favaro to explore ways to accommodate the impacts of the digital revolution and to better serve each library’s constituents now and into the future.
Encompassing a total of 3,6370,000 ASF or 510,000 GSF, the master plan will draw upon an evaluation of system-wide requirements, as well as needs specific to each library. It will focus on existing and future spaces for library users, staff, and collections, as well as spaces that foster user engagement including: learning commons, classrooms, study space, collaborative work areas, food service and wellness space. To create the master plan, Johnson Favaro has partnered with the University library leadership, its staff, faculty, researchers, and students to consider alternate renovation and addition options to accommodate unique program needs at each of the seven library sites.
At completion of the master plan, Johnson Favaro will provide an overall implementation plan which will outline a sequence of actions necessary to bring the final proposed plan to fruition. The University will determine the preferred scope, phasing, and timing of each improvement to be realized as additional individual projects.
Johnson Favaro brings to this project extensive experience in library design, having previously completed the West Hollywood Library, Manhattan Beach Library and Beverly Hills Library. “We have prepared for a project of this scope and complexity almost our entire professional lives. We are thrilled and honored to participate in the reimagining and revitalization of UCLA’s library system,” said principal Johnson Favaro.
Upcoming projects include Costa Mesa Library, currently under construction and the new Riverside Main Library, which will begin construction in January 2019. Most recently the firm completed a renovation project at UCLA known as Hedrick Study: a hybrid of library, lounge and dining facility.