A design that will complement the town of Madisonville, its character and ambient architecture while retaining some of the aspects of the old library was the primary concern and wish expressed by Madisonville residents Thursday night.

“The public meeting was held to obtain initial input before preliminary architecture renderings are made,” said Ronald E. Kilcrease of REK Architects, one of the two firms involved in the project.

The lead architect on the project is Thomas Brown of Sizeler, Thompson, Brown Architects. Brown presented the objective of the library building at the meeting as, “a community-friendly building, which represents the values of Madisonville’s citizens, now and for future generations.”

Moss-laden oak trees on the western edge of the property frame the view of the library site east toward the Tchefuncte River and neighboring houses on Mabel Drive. Citizens hope to preserve the grove of trees bordering Main Street. (Staff Photo by Debbie Glover)

The new library in Madisonville has a construction budget of about $3.5 million and will be about 15,000 square feet. The property measures about 1.5 acres with 193 feet on Main Street, 310 feet on the northern boundary and 361 feet fronting Mabel Drive across from the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center. The town of Madisonville owns the adjoining property to the north.

Due to its close proximity to the Tchefuncte River, which increases the possibility of flooding, the library will be a raised building with the first floor about 16 feet off the ground. The design will have to take this need into consideration and Brown stated that the building would be about as tall as the facing museum structure. Brown said the building would be a four-sided building, meaning a structure meant to be aesthetically pleasing from any view, similar to the museum.

During their presentation, the architects presented a 360-degree view from the property of the surrounding area. Brown said that consideration of the neighboring views during the day and at night is crucial to the plan.

Of particular interest is the preservation of a grove of oak trees along Main Street, which are the only trees on the property.

Neighbors’ concerns include outdoor lighting, noise during construction and parking. Construction is expected to take a year from the groundbreaking and no construction would be done at night.

Outdoor lighting will be done with a minimum of interference to neighbors and no lights will shine in neighboring windows. Light-sensitive photovoltaic cells will probably be used to minimize expense by turning the lights on and off at dusk and dawn.

Concerns about parking and the need for about 75 parking spaces is also a primary concern. Parking under the raised building may be a possibility, depending upon support columns for the building and other spatial issues, said Sizeler architect and project manager John Owens.

The possibility of sharing parking facilities with the museum exists as well as the cooperation between the museum and library in using meeting space.

“Our facility has small meeting rooms and large meeting rooms, but nothing in between,” said Dr. Jay Martin, executive director of the museum. “We want to cooperate in any way possible with the library.”

Suggestions at the meeting included an energy-efficient “green” facility with wrap around porches and plenty of windows for natural lighting. Long, sloping steps and a nautical theme were also suggested. Many in attendance want the building to retain influences from the facade of the old building.

Madisonville Mayor Peter Gitz said the old library had been a variety of businesses before becoming the library, including a saloon, a hospital and a bank. The adaptive reuse of the building most recently known as the library is quite typical, Owen said.

Many residents said the main concern should be how it will look from the north, since that will be the first image a visitor will encounter. A West Indies or south Louisiana regional architecture look was favored.

Of course, the library board has requirements for the interior of the building, including the public entrance and lobby, public meeting areas, circulation services, children’s services, teen area, adult services and staff support areas.

The next step in the process will involve a meeting by the architects with the library board. Preliminary sketches will be prepared before meeting again with the residents. No date has been set for the meetings.