Chicago Public Library
Chicago, Illinois
New Building
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Carow · Architects · Planners designed the Rudy Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library, completed in September 1989. The 18,000 square foot, single-story library serves the Hispanic community of Chicago by housing one of the largest Spanish literature collections in the city.
The library boasts a number of Central American features. At the center of the main reading room a glass dome measuring 32 feet in diameter hovers above a royal Mexican palm tree and the children's story telling area. A pre-Columbian terra cotta frieze in a traditional motif is used as a frieze within the interior and exterior masonry walls.
The main reading room houses adult non-fiction, study carrels, and children's collections. The ceiling tile and wall panels are lined with the highest quality acoustical materials to maintain a quiet environment. The library also contains a 150-seat auditorium, reading rooms for young adults and senior citizens, and a wireless audio listening system. A curved facade of glass stretches between the two brick blocks of the southern community room and the northern main reading room to form the library entry, circulation desk area, and plaza-like casual reading room which have a brick floor laid in a Mixtec pattern.
