Architecture Alumnus Reese Rowland to Discuss Children's Library in Little Rock

Photo Submitted

The Children’s Library and Learning Center, a part of the Central Arkansas Library System, opened in March in Little Rock.

The Architecture and Design Network will present “CALS Children’s Library and Learning Center: A New Paradigm” on Tuesday, May 14, at the Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th St., Little Rock. The lecture will begin at 6 p.m., following a 5:30 p.m. reception.

This will be a conversation with Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System, and Reese Rowland, principal architect at Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. Rowland is an alumnus of the Fay Jones School of Architecture.

Five years in the making, Little Rock’s new Children’s Library and Learning Center offers a range of participatory experiences designed to encourage the growth, development and well-being of its young patrons.

Situated on a 6-acre, landscaped tract that borders a residential neighborhood just south of Interstate 630, the 30,000-square-foot facility is like no other in the region. Designed by Rowland, an award-winning architect, the $12 million glass, steel and stone structure houses a collection of more than 21,000 books, CDs and DVDs. Among its special features are a computer lab; spacious meeting room; teaching kitchen; a series of study rooms; and a multi-use, 165-seat theater. A greenhouse and teaching garden, set apart from the main structure, are part of the complex, which also includes an outdoor amphitheater.

Roberts will talk about how the idea for building a combined, children’s library and learning center originated and developed, and how the location was selected. Roberts and Rowland will discuss their roles, as client and architect, in the project’s design. They will talk about the kinds of programming envisioned for the facility and discuss ways its staff can engage with other institutions and organizations in the community to serve children and their families.

The 2012-13 Art of Architecture lecture series is sponsored by the Architecture and Design Network, a non-profit organization, with support from the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Arkansas Arts Center, the Central Arkansas Library System and the Fay Jones School of Architecture.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact ardenetwork@icloud.com.