The Free Library of Philadelphia has selected Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc. to design the renovation and expansion of the city’s Central Library on Logan Square. The internationally renowned Boston-based firm will join with Philadelphia-based Francis Cauffman Foley Hoffman, associate architect, while Feingold Alexander + Associates and Kelly/Maiello Inc. of Philadelphia will partner on the historic preservation portion of the project. The architects hope to return the original structure—designed by Horace Trumbauer and Julian Abele, patterned after an 18th-century French government palace, and completed in 1927—to its original grandeur.

“Our aim is to bring the existing Free Library of Philadelphia to its old glory, restoring the building and its array of public rooms to their original state,” the architects explain. “We also believe that the proposed and the existing structures must form a singular unified complex. The expansion will provide a singular spatial experience where the old flows into the new seamlessly, while maintaining the authenticity of the traditional and the contemporary architecture.”

The plan includes an additional 180,000 square feet of library space, and old and new will connect via a light-filled atrium. Like Safdie’s acclaimed Salt Lake City Library, which just received a 2004 AIA Honor Award for Architecture, and other contemporary libraries, the Central Library addition will offer its community a variety of spaces beyond traditional research spaces. It contains, for instance, spaces earmarked for a teen lounge, a children’s story room, a coffee shop, and an auditorium.

The design process will take two years, and construction three years, with an opening anticipated by early 2007. Funding for the $120 million project will come from a public/private partnership; the city has already pledged $30 million toward the goal.

In summary, the architects hope to provide Philadelphia with “a major new landmark reflecting its illustrious past and optimism for its future.” Upon his selection for the project, Safdie said, “I couldn’t be more pleased and honored to be selected for this magnificent project. I have a passion for libraries, and this library in particular offers the opportunity to restore this extraordinary building to its former glory and, at the same time, adds a new wing that makes a statement about a library of the 21st century and what it means to our society today.” The architect also noted his emotional connection to the City of Brotherly Love, harking back to his apprenticeship with Louis Kahn.

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