Plans Unveiled for Yearlong Refurbishing of Public Library

• Almost Every ‘Malibu’ Theme Imaginable Is Incorporated Somewhere in the Expanded Space

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Modern is out, postmodern is in. That was the message delivered at an open house showcasing the planned renovations for the Malibu Public Library, which will trade its utilitarian mid-century modern brick and concrete, built in 1970, for colorful tiles and whimsical decor.

Planners hope the colorful and imaginative new library will be an inviting place for the community to congregate and provide a venue for a wide range of activities.

“People wander in [to the current building] and think they’re in the courthouse,” consultant Linda Demmers said at the presentation. “This library will tell the Malibu story.”

Demmers stressed that the ambitious project is a remodel not a rebuilding. “We’re not closing to demolish [the library], we’re closing to refurbish,” she said, adding that the existing 12,000 square-foot building has “good bones.”

The improvements outlined by Demmers range from practical—a heating, air conditioning and electrical system that is separate from the adjacent county court house; natural lighting; new bathrooms; a community room that will be nearly twice as large and include with a fully-equipped kitchen; and additional computer terminals—to whimsical: brightly colored hanging lamps and glass “bubbles”; a suspended surfboard sculpture in the teen section, and a decorative “lighthouse” that will house a family-friendly restroom in the children’s section.

Other improvements will include storage and space for a permanent Friends of the Malibu Library bookstore; a copy center; self-service checkout; a study room; and two new reading areas, the existing patio behind the current community room will be open to the public, and a new  “reading garden” and outdoor performance space will be created at the front of the building that will be the centerpiece of the new library, accessed from inside the library by a wall of glass that will overlook Legacy Park, and from outside via a ramp for the disabled.

According to the presentation, the remodeled main entry will feature a Malibu Potteries-style tile rug and a “heritage wall” showcasing photographs selected from the archives of the Malibu History Association with the assistance of longtime Malibu resident Jane Hemenez.

The community room will have an equestrian theme, while the main library will evoke the beach, with a wooden ceiling feature that suggests the pier, in addition to the lighthouse, surfboard sculpture, murals depicting waves and Malibu girl surfer Gidget and lamps shaped like buoys and bubbles.

The exterior of the building will be sheathed in a colorful tile material called Trespa, which Demmers described as “virtually indestructible.” The new reading garden will feature native plants.

According to Demmers, the remodeled library will be LEEDs certified. The library renovation is described as the city’s “first project to meet the rigorous environmentally sustainable design, construction and operation standards required to obtain certification from the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) program—a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.”

The cost of the project is $5.7 million, most of it covered by the County of Los Angeles. “It’s money that the county has been carefully saving the past five years,” Demmers said.

“For 17 years the county didn’t give us any money,” former Malibu City Councilmember Sharon Barovsky commented from the audience.

The Malibu Library Fundraising Task Force has launched a donation drive to raise $500,000 that would help pay for extra features, including solar panels.

The library is scheduled to close on June 1 and reopen summer 2011. Its 92,466 books, 6491 audio recordings, 5117 video recordings and other special materials, such as telephone directories, pamphlets, California topographic maps, and local history will go into storage. However, a temporary facility will be established at the other end of the county buildings. Patrons can also use their library card to access any of the county’s libraries, including Westlake Village and Agoura Hills. “You are not going to not have a library,” Demmers said.

At the end of the presentation, Demmers received a pair of live caterpillars brought to her by Konrad Ulich, the son of city council member and library project advocate Pamela Conley Ulich.

“The theme of this project is transformation,” Conley Ulich told the audience.

Conley Ulich presented each of the task force members with a butterfly made of paper containing flower seeds. All donors to the fundraising effort will receive a butterfly with their name on it. When the library reopens, the butterflies will be planted in the reading garden, she explained.

Donors willing to make a larger contribution will receive a more permanent commemoration, with their name engraved on the wall.

Donors may send tax-deductible contributions to the City of Malibu Library Renewal Project, 23815 Stuart Ranch Road, Malibu, CA 90265. More information is available at the city’s website: www.ci.malibu.ca.us