Northpinellas: Library puts commissioners in uncomfortable role

Some city commissioners dislike the design, or components of it. If the design is architecture, then it is probably okay to tell the architect to make the windows bigger or the columns shorter or to take off the canopy on the west side of the building. "And can you do something about that roof?" they might ask.

But if the design is art, is it okay to make those demands? Wouldn't that be like telling an artist who painted a beautiful watercolor to change the colors in the painting to match your living room upholstery?

And what if the artist were famous? Would you walk up to Picasso and say, "Hey man, your work is weird. I don't like it. Could you paint me a nice vase of flowers?"

Oh, pity the Clearwater commissioners confronted by this conundrum. Their suffering was apparent in a recent work session with the library's architects. So gingerly, so politely, they raised their concerns about the building design.

Why is this so tough? First, commissioners cannot speak from a position of strength. Not one of the five is an architect, or even an artist. How do they know what is good architecture? They just know what they like -- or don't like.

And second, they are up against a Goliath in the field. Clearwater's new library was designed by Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the revered Yale School of Architecture and senior partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York, which employs more than 150 architects and designers. He has written and edited more than 20 books on design. He hosted an eight-part PBS television documentary on American architecture. He has designed homes, office towers, museums, libraries, college campuses, hotels and courthouses in the United States and overseas. He is the co-master planner of Disney's Celebration community and he and his firm are involved in the redesign of New York City's Times Square.

And Stern is very definitely an artist. His designs are part of the permanent collections of several art museums here and abroad.

It was a previous city administration that decided, back in 1997 and 1998, that Clearwater's new main library should be unique, and that an architect with a national reputation should be employed to design it. So when area architectural firms vied for the job, they touted partnerships with some of the top names in the field. Clearwater chose the Florida firm of Harvard Jolly Clees Toppe Architects, which has done 35 library projects and promised to deliver for Clearwater a library designed by Stern.

Stern took more than the average amount of interest in the Clearwater project, according to Alex Lamis, who has worked for Stern for 17 years and is the firm's architect handling the details of the project here. Stern came to Clearwater more than half a dozen times. He rode around the city, made notes and took pictures. He stood where the new library would be located, at the top of the downtown bluff overlooking Clearwater Harbor.

"I think he has a feeling about this piece of land," said John Toppe of Harvard Jolly, adding that Stern became "intrigued with Clearwater."

City officials gave the architects only a few instructions. They wanted a "signature building" that would take Clearwater into the future. They wanted it on a specific rectangular footprint on the bluff. And they wanted the building to integrate into the downtown, but also take advantage of water views to the west.

Stern delivered to the city a design that isn't like anything else around it -- in other words, a signature building. The east side of the four-story structure resembles other buildings downtown: cozied right up to the sidewalk and street, with narrow windows and a fairly unadorned stone and stucco facade. The west side, facing the water, is glass, with a dramatic, upturned canopy that partially blocks the afternoon sun while also appearing to open up the building to the expanse of water and light. And over it all, a steep barrel vault roof.

As soon as the design hit the newspapers, a cacophony of criticism arose from the public, which apparently expected something Mediterranean, or perhaps a look like nearby Calvary Baptist Church. Commissioners reserved their own opinions while library Director John Szabo took the drawings to community meetings to collect public reaction. At the work session with architects Lamis (representing Stern) and Toppe on July 13, commissioners revealed their own thoughts.

The wall of glass on the west side. Wouldn't that let in too much sun and heat, and leave the building vulnerable to hurricanes? Commissioners were reassured when told that the glass will be laminated safety glass that will comply with new state requirements for high-wind resistance, and that the building will be shaded by existing trees, the big canopy, horizontal metal fins on the outside of the glass and translucent window shades on the inside.

They questioned the location of the elevator and stairs at the opposite end of the building from the entrance, especially since many of the downtown library's users are elderly. Commissioners said they wanted the elevators moved, or a second one added near the entrance. The architects agreed to take another look at the issue.

But after a few more minutes spent on such details, commissioners had to broach the subject of the building's overall design. And though the discussion remained polite, the discomfort in the room was palpable.

Mayor Brian Aungst was most pointed. He said the design seemed "daring," and unlikely to become the "vocabulary of downtown." He wanted the soaring canopy, which he said had been the focus of public criticism, removed. But architect Lamis drew the line there. The canopy not only had a functional purpose, but an expressive one, he said, and if it were removed, Stern would have to redesign the whole building -- likely at an increased cost, if he would do it at all. To which Aungst retorted, "This is the people's library."

But not all commissioners were critical of the overall design. "I trust Stern," said Commissioner Ed Hart. Commissioner Whitney Gray called it "imaginative" and "perfectly in context," and said the building should look like a library for the future, not a monument to the past.

Toppe isn't surprised by all the back and forth. Just as art sometimes causes debate and strong reactions, so does inspired architecture.

"Good design creates controversy," he said. "If it was a plain vanilla box, no one would care. And no one would look at it."

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