Whither Washingtoniana – Future floorplans

Here are images from the plans that DC Public Library submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, showing the new Washingtoniana Reading Room design. Note there is an equivalent size space on the west side of the 4th floor for staff use only and closed stacks.

The most notable feature is a a huge void at the center of the room — 30 feet by 60 feet –which is is an opening to the reading room below (for comparison’s sake note that the current Washingtoniana reading room open table space is just about twice that size).

This does answer some questions about how the Division space will be allocated raised last month here:

https://matthewbgilmore.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/whither-washingtoniana-plans-sketched-concerns-rebuffed-closing-march-4/

 

Click for larger image: larger version

 

Here are some closer-in shots:

 

 

Presumably nothing has changed since September 2016.