Peterborough Town Library

Our renovation and expansion of the Peterborough Town Library creates a new civic forum for Peterborough with a design that is in three parts. At one end is the original 1893 masonry building, with its restored reading room, special collections storage, and offices. At the other end, and balancing the original building in scale, massing, and materiality, is a new community wing with a flexible auditorium and multi-purpose classrooms. In between a new connector building provides open and transparent spaces for children, young adult, and general collections, as well as the help desk, and technical services.

The Library is located in the center of the Peterborough with expansive views of the adjacent Contoocook River. The building’s glass facades, reading porch, new gardens, and a river terrace connect the Library with town life, offering additional settings for community gatherings outside. An adjacent building is retrofitted to accommodate a bio mass boiler to heat and cool the Library, while electrical loads are offset by roof-mounted photovoltaics.