The Young Adult Library is also designed in accordance with the Clifton Plaza project. The library is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, set right in the Clifton neighborhood. It was designed to be a place for everyone in the city to utilize but has a specific focus on students and their needs. By helping de-stress the daily lives of students, the library is able to create a place for people to feel welcome and calm.
The concept for the design came from tension. Physically, the form of the building represents tension by relating to the movement of tectonic plates as they shift and grind past each other. The library's tension is illustrated by the two halves of the building that seem to slide past each other similar to how the plates move past each other specifically like in strike-slip faults. Figuratively, the building continues to represent tension especially when compared to within a student and their daily lives. Many students experience several different forms of tension or stress in their lives whether it be from school or work or something other. The purpose of the library is to alleviate the daily tension they face and create a space where people can go to relax. This juxtaposition of the idea of tension creates both an interesting looking library as well as provides a positive environment for learning and studying for the people who enter and utilize the options the library has to offer.
The library has multiple different functions and has the ability to provide support to the many different needs of students. The library's egress is based on noise where the lower levels are louder and the upper levels are quieter. It has the ability to house large groups for events or individual people who just want to study or read, but it can also house musicians with its auditorium and practice rooms, dancers or artists with its studio spaces, and also craftsmen with its integrated wood and tool shop.
The use of natural light is important for this project and is assisted with a double skin front facade as well as a light tunnel that penetrates the entire depth of the building.
