Jeffries Point Courtyard Library

This design proposal for a library in Jeffries Point, East Boston, is a project that connects the need for a more intimate access to the joy of public parks. As a small community alternative to the nearby Piers Park, this library tucks its nature beneath a series of downward-sloped roofs all meeting at the center of an L-shaped courtyard, echoing the plot of land on which it sits.

The positioning of the bookshelves in the Cottage Street entrance, in conjunction with the small streetside restaurant in the Everett street ground floor, the courtyard remains out of view, a threshold remaining on either side of the courtyard from the business and brightness of the street, resulting in a pocket of nature and light at the center. Bookshelves and benches surround the courtyard, creating pockets of seclusion for visitors, and the bookshelf-stairs allow for a makeshift classroom or presentation area.

Apart from the courtyard itself, the roof is the most influential element in the experience of the library, with its sloped structure compressing the space the closer one gets to the courtyard, allowing the courtyard itself to become a release from the rest of the form. On top of that, the exposed rafters quietly direct the local readers to the courtyard sitting at the center of the lot, an inversion of what one may expect from a typical American front yard or backyard.

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