On the steps of the main branch on East Market Street Thursday, September 21, at 10am, officials from Albemarle County and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will announce that they have selected Grimm & Parker Architects of Mclean (in association with Heyward Boyd Architects here in town) to design the new 15,000-sq.-ft. Crozet Library. Architects from Grimm & Parker will also be on hand to discuss the project.

A new Crozet Library? Who knew.

According to Susan Stimart, a County business development facilitator, $5.4 million has been set aside for the project, which was approved after a 2001 study using local census data indicated a need for a bigger library. However, there are still a few hurdles to clear.

“We’re going to need a bit more funding,” admits Stimart, “because the cost of construction has gone up so much.” In addition, the county still hasn’t decided on a building site. Recently, says Stimart, the county purchased land on Harris Street (across the from the restaurant Cocina del Sol) as a possible location, but also has an option to build on the Crozet Waldorf School site. At a meeting at Western Albemarle High School on October 25, a building site will be chosen.

Grimm & Parker, who have designed more than two dozen libraries, are best known recently for the new library in Rockville, Maryland (pictured above). In an unusual twist, so to speak, the design commemorates some significant local history– the unlocking of the human genetic code, which the Rockville-based company Celera Genomics Group accomplished in 2000. One side of the building undulates in a reference to one half of a double helix, while the landscaping along the wall references the other side.

Apparently, Grimm & Parker plan to study Crozet history in a similar effort to commemorate and symbolize it in their design of the new library.

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