World-renowned veena player Nirmala Rajasekar of Plymouth (center) performs with her ensemble, Naadha Rasa Center for Music, and other Twin Cities musicians during ;a Navarathri and Diwali Family Celebration at Hennepin County (Minn.) Library’s Plymouth branch October 19. Navarathri and Diwali are well-known festivals celebrated throughout India.
Literacy, a three-dimensional mural created by artist Peyton Scott Russell and students from the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, is on semi-permanent at Hennepin County (Minn.) Library’s Golden Valley branch after a public unveiling and open house October 15.
Jada Carpenter, age 6, and her dad, JuVane, read a book in the children’s area of the renovated and expanded Hennepin County Library's Northeast branch, which reopened on April 2. Hundreds of residents flocked to the new facility and were greeted by accordion music, a nod to the area’s early Polish, German, and Scandinavian settlers.
Community Living Rooms: The teen lounge is easily reconfigurable for individual or social needs.
Architect: Bentz, Thompson, Rietow
Photo: Philip Prowse
Outdoor Connections: The Plymouth Library is flooded with natural light. Sunshade grating screens sunlight to reduce glare and heat. In winter, however, channel glass in the clerestories contains insulation that keeps out the cold.
Architect: Bentz, Thompson, Rietow
Outdoor Connections: The new Maple Grove Library was designed as a pavilion in a park, which was itself reclaimed from gravel mines. The design integrates outdoor views and spaces, including this reading porch, furnished with Adirondack chairs, that overlooks a pond.
