Government of District of Columbia, Martin Luther King Branch Library Renovations, Washington, DC

MLK.PNG
“MEP Design Services ”
 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library was constructed in 1972 by the internationally renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In June 2007, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) designated the property, including the public spaces on the first floor, as a historic landmark and listed it in the DC inventory of Historic Sites. It was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building consists of 440,000 square feet of library and library support space that is characteristic of Miesian design tenants and characteristic of the architecture of the International Style.

The building was in need of numerous repairs, upgrades, and improvements to help it adapt to the current needs and demands of a public library. The renovation of the BST Reading Room was the first of the several efforts to renovate portions of the MLK Library.

The fourth floor of the original building and additional fifth floor will become destination levels with an event space and an auditorium. The roof will feature a public terrace from which visitors will have spectacular views that connects the building with its surrounding urban context in the heart of the capital of the United States of America.

SETTY provided MEP design services for various task orders:

  • Provided a report for the Programming and Space Analysis scope of work associated with the renovation of the BST Reading Room.

  • Assessed future options to add two additional floors on the top of the existing building.

  • Studied efficient use of the existing 440,000 sf of the overall space in the building.

  • Reconfigured access and circulation to accommodate multi-tenant occupancy.

  • MEP design services primarily for three individual zones – interior modifications.

  • Zones are:

    • West Reading Room, Great Hall and A Level

    • In addition to three main zones, provided limited MEP design services for the IT as it affects M/E/P, new Food Service for the Great Hall with limited MEP interaction, and B-level impacts as they pertain to MEP. 

MLK 1.PNG
 
MLK 2 (Not Ours).jpg

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, D.C.’s central library, underwent a complete modernization. The transformed flagship library features:

  • A spectacular new, vibrant and transparent entryway

  • Sculptured monumental staircase

  • A large auditorium and conference center 

  • Creative spaces for fabrication, music production and art creation 

  • Ground level café with patio

  • Double-height reading room 

  • Newly designed special collections space

  • A roof top terrace

Washington DCvikram devaiahMEP Engineering, Libraries