Flint Public Library earns Architizer A+ Award

Gloria Coles Flint Public Library has been honored with a  Special Mention in the 2024 Architizer A+ Awards  in the Libraries category.

The Architizer A+Awards is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and products. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life. Typically, five finalists in each category are selected and are featured on Architizer’s website based on excellence in form and function in more than 100 categories.

In the face of adversity, a public library in a community struggling with systemic socio-economic and social divides sought to transform, renew, revitalize, and reinvent its 1950s building into a modern and flexible beacon for learning and hope. Flint Public Library was remade from the inside out, transforming to an equitable, confident, and aspirational place for the community. While maintaining the original footprint of the building, the 94,000 square foot interior was reconfigured to include new openings between the first and second floors. Windows were added and replaced; and exterior architectural fins, both new and existing, were reclad to reflect the surrounding midcentury buildings that comprise the cultural campus on which the library sits. The improved floor plan increases efficiency, creates more opportunities for staff and visitor interactions, and encourages stronger interaction with the library’s unique resources. As the community continues to recover from a well-known water crisis, this library also integrates new outdoor program spaces, gardens, terraces, and water filtration systems to encourage and support healing.

The library was also honored with an AIA Merit Award in 2022, along with a 2024 Community Impact Design Award by AIA Michigan.