Last Thursday, the public got a chance to learn more about the current design plan for the
Payne-Maryland Center on the East Side of St. Paul.
A $14 million phase one project, including a library and rec center, will begin construction next summer, according to Chris Gibbs, who is principal at
HGA, the architecture firm that's working on the design.
The library and rec center will share certain spaces within the two-level building that will have 4,500 square feet.
Both the library and rec center will need educational rooms, for example. By moving into the building together, "They'll have a lot more access than they would typically have," he says.
The place will include a high-tech teen space, gym, walking track, fitness equipment and a community room.
Playgrounds and gathering spaces outdoors will also create an "urban town square that acts as a front porch for the building," he says.
To get to this latest design, the architects took in the public response, and then "We spent time looking at the existing neighborhood and the history of the architecture," he says.
"There were issues of it feeling too big. We tried to break it down," and to make it sympathetic to the area's character.
As such, it was broken into a series of simply defined brick boxes with storefront openings.
The building could also get "small amounts of brick and exterior detailing," that reference area structures.
"It's an interesting balance between honoring the past and looking forward," he says.
Additionally, phase one is "being designed to accept phase two as seamlessly as possible," and to standalone, he says.
A phase two development, which will involve the private partners, including the
Arlington Hills Lutheran Church and Jim Bradshaw, of
Bradshaw Funeral Homes, is still evolving. Right now the partners are fundraising for phase two, he says.
In general, the idea is to make it "support multi-function sharing of spaces, utilizing new technologies and enhanced sustainability, and becoming a catalyst for community connections and investment," according to city information.
Source: Chris Gibbs, HGA Architects
Writer: Anna Pratt