The Municipal Art Society of New York Names the Far Rockaway Library the City’s “Best New Building”

(Queens, NY – September 23, 2024) Commissioner Thomas Foley of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott today announced that the new Far Rockaway Library has been named the City’s “Best New Building” by the Municipal Art Society of New York in its 2024 MASterworks Awards. DDC managed the design and construction of the $39 million library for Queens Public Library.

“We are honored to be recognized by the Municipal Art Society for bringing world-class architecture to Queens,” said DDC Commissioner Thomas Foley. “The new Far Rockaway Library carries on the tradition of more than 120 years of public library access at this site with a modern, accessible structure that’s twice the size of the former library and full of amenities for the community as well as public art. Thank you to MAS as well the Queens Public Library and the great DDC project team that managed this project in-house.”

“As soon as it opened its doors to the public, the new Far Rockaway Library instantly became an anchor for the neighborhood and an architectural sensation attracting people from near and far,” said QPL President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott. “We are thrilled that it was recognized by the Municipal Art Society of New York for its spectacular design. Congratulations to Snøhetta for their brilliant concept and the Department of Design and Construction for delivering this iconic and inspiring building to the community.”

The Far Rockaway Library opened to the public on July 30, 2024, at a ribbon cutting ceremony with local elected officials and residents. Since then, more than 21,000 people have visited the branch, and nearly 23,000 item have been checked out, making the branch one of the busiest locations in the QPL system.

Located at the busy intersection of Central and Mott Avenues, it was designed by the renowned architectural firm Snøhetta under DDC’s Design and Construction Excellence Program, pre-qualifies firms to provide design services for public buildings projects, reducing the time required to procure design services while ensuring the highest levels of quality and professionalism in construction projects managed by the agency. The Program currently has 20 design firms, ten of which are certified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs).

The new library is twice the size of the prior building and features a unique glass façade and central atrium space designed to let natural light penetrate deep into the building while giving customers views of the sky from within the building. A tall transparent glass pyramidal opening at the corner serves as the library’s main entry. The building’s interior spaces are arranged around the atrium, which serves as a meeting place, a point of orientation, and the focus of the branch’s activities. The façade is comprised of colored glass, with its colors gradually fading into one another, balancing transparency and translucency. The interior railing is made of dichroic glass, creating a kaleidoscopic effect in the atrium.

A teen room and computer area are located on the first floor, along with library offices, a book sorting area and a staff lounge and lockers. There is also a rear yard accessible to the public. The second floor, accessible by an elevator, has separate adult and children reading areas, and a dividable meeting room. Restrooms are available on both floors.

The building meets LEED Gold standards for environmental efficiency. The glass façade’s glazing reduces heat generated by the sun and lets in ample natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting. Other energy efficient features include daylighting and occupancy sensors that work with automated building management systems and an underfloor heating distribution system. The structure also has a blue roof that releases storm water from the site at a slow speed.

Inside the library, as part of the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art Program, Mexican artist Pablo Helguera created the “Feynman Code,” a tribute to the Nobel Prize-winner and theoretical physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988), who grew up in the neighborhood and attended Far Rockaway High School. One of his contributions to physics are the so-called Feynman diagrams, pictorial representations of the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles. For the Far Rockaway Library, Helguera created an alphabet where every letter is replaced by a Feynman diagram, and reproduced two phrases using this coding system: one by the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson, “the brain is wider than the sky,” and one by Feynman himself: “I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.” The project received an Excellence in Design Award from the Public Design Commission in 2019.