News Roundup

Renovation of Alvar Street Library in Bywater

“MS&R took a very drab … crowded, essentially one room Carnegie style building, and transformed it into a light, airy, more spacious seeming, and inviting environment, with an emphasis on computer access.” - Bill Johnson, Director, New Orleans Public Library

MS&R donated the time and talent to restore the Alvar Street Branch Library. Located in the Bywater Neighborhood of New Orleans, it is the first library severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina to reopen.

The firm collaborated with Library Journal to secure more than $500,000 in donations for the restoration. Built in 1940 with WPA funds and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the concrete structure withstood Katrina’s winds, but not the flood waters. Several feet of water stood stagnant within the Art Deco building for weeks following the storm, destroying the entire interior.

The restoration modernizes and reconnects the library to the community. Since the project relied on donations, the design concept is flexible, with a juicy color palette, jazzy artwork, and geometric furniture. The library reopened—with twenty-two computer stations, a complete collection, and new shelving, furniture, flooring, bathroom, kitchen/staff lounge, and electrical system—just sixteen weeks after MS&R started the project.