Saratoga's new library begins to take shape

By Oakley Brooks

Architect Mark Schatz stood on a concrete slab of the emerging, revamped Saratoga Community Library last week and envisioned a long corridor that will eventually run through most of the new building.

"We call it Line 6; it will run from the Saratoga Avenue side, all the way to the children's area along the largest section of the orchard," Schatz said. "In the middle, it will pass the cafe, where people can get a coffee, and then sit outside on a patio and feel like they're right in the middle of the orchard."

Shatz's imagination is more vivid than most--he etched the library's every detail. And the building remains constantly on his brain--watching the movie Disclosure recently, he spotted light fixtures similar to those scheduled for the library's entryway.

Yet, standing on the eastern slab during a lull in construction last week, even a layman could sense at least the vastness of the new space.

The near tripling in size of the old library into a 50,000-square-foot building is starting to become a reality.

The new space promises more stacks and new specialty spaces for new media, group study and children's story time. And sealed under the concrete, a sprawling network of electrical and telecommunications wires, along with some of the heating system, will make those activities possible.

With vaulted ceilings, windows that will provide up-lighting, and an airy entryway, Schatz hopes the building lives up to some of the desires of the general public.

"The complaints about the old library were that it's dark and crowded," he said. "You're not going to see that in the new library."

To match the architect's vision, Thompson Pacific will begin placing the steel beams to form the outer frame of the building in the next one to two months.

The contractor recently won the contract on the second phase of the library--and made city officials happy--by bidding for the phase at some $430,000 less than original estimates. After some cost overruns in the initial phase, officials are working diligently to remain close to the $14.5 million total budget for the project.

City and construction officials say once Thompson Pacific begins its work, the building should take 265 workdays to complete. Library workers will then need about 60 days to outfit the building with books, equipment and furniture before the library can open to the public.

"This has been the slow and boring part; now it could get exciting," Schatz said.

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