The new Walpole Public Library designed by LLB Architects is sited near the downtown area of this suburb just outside of Boston. The library program is organized around four masses, encased in rectangular fiber cement panels, which anchor the building’s entries. In between them, generous circulation paths, a sculptural staircase, and skylights create a feeling of openness and lightness. The signage was designed to complement the building's architecture, utilizing a single, squarish sans serif contemporary typeface throughout all environmental graphics including exterior signage, dedication plaques, donor signage, vinyl graphics on glass, directory and room identification. The exterior canopy is adorned with dimensional aluminum lettering painted brown, matching the accent brick on the base of the exterior. Donor signage is applied on stainless steel plaques to complement the hardware and finishes of the interior architecture, and room signs are produced on translucent acrylic plates, adding greater depth and dimension to evoke the lightness of the central atrium. Geometric environmental graphics wrap the floor-to-ceiling glass study rooms in an abstract pattern mimicking the fiber cement panels. The signage package not only communicates and informs, but strengthens the conceptual design of the architecture. See more of the architecture at http://llbarch.com/project-catalog/libraries/walpole-public-library/

The project describes a strategy which revitalizes the city through building in existing urban fabric. By finding the underutilized volumes in the dense city, and building in unused development rights, a building can exist in harmony with its surroundings without disruption. The proposal becomes a new kind of building, one that exists adjacent to and hovering over existing buildings, like a tight-fitting, three-dimensional puzzle. The aesthetics of the building represent this change in relation to context. It is a symbol of the virtual man-made lines of the city, plot lines and building height restrictions.