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Thorp Associates continues to design public libraries for a number of communities and towns along the front range and mountain regions of Colorado. We have developed a reputation for designing these facilities to meet the specific needs of each unique community.
| Buena VistaPublic Library - Buena Vista, Colorado |
 Thorp Associates worked for over two years with the Northern Chaffee County Library District to first complete a comprehensive needs analysis, and then develop a new library design to support the community for many years to come. The ultimate 7,600 s.f. design takes advantage of a wooded creekside site and faces south to enhance cold weather access. A public meeting room augments the facility’s library services, which includes an expanded (and separate) children’s library, more stack and technical process space, as well as a quiet reading room that looks out onto the meandering creek. In planning for the future, the new building’s foundations were designed to support a future second story addition.Click here for more pictures. |
| The Estes Park Public Library - Estes Park, Colorado |
 Working closely with the Estes Valley Library Board of Directors and Staff to develop a very flexible library design with an exterior character in harmony with its Estes Park mountain setting, Thorp Associates' design incorporated large overhangs, horizontal redwood siding, accents of moss rock, with sloped roofs to recall the general character of early turn-of-the-century National Park Administration buildings. The use of extensive landscaping and berming help minimize the scale of this two story building, designed to structurally support the second floor addition recently completed in June 2002. The expansion project was a design/build venture with R.C. Heath Construction Co., and was constructed concurrently with the Estes Park Municipal Board Room Remodel. Joe Calvin served as the Project Manager for these two projects. |
| Eaton Public Library Addition - Eaton, Colorado |
 Desiring to expand its position as a civic icon and continue the early 1900's "Carnegie" style masonry architecture of the existing library structure while upgrading library services to the community, Thorp Associates was able to expand the Eaton, Colorado Public Library by utilizing modern construction techniques, while being sensitive to an earlier architectural aesthetic. The addition, which was built below the established budget, upgrades the entire facility to meet ADA accessibility requirements, while rearranging space to allow for a new entrance fronting onto additional parking. New public restrooms and direct access to meeting rooms in the old library, even when the new library is closed, helps make the project usable for a variety of groups throughout the community. Although separate areas for the children's and adult's stacks were provided, with a separate quiet reading niche, the circulation desk was designed to provide complete control of the facility from its central location.The growing community of Eaton precipitated the need to convert the "old library" from meeting rooms back to shelving, thus the Eaton Public Library Remodeling began construction in September of 2002 and is nearing completion, with Kelly Deitman as Project Manager. |
| Salida Regional Library - Salida, Colorado |
 Served by the same "Carnegie" Library since the early 1900's and fast approaching paralysis due to overuse and confinement of available space, the Library Board commissioned Thorp Associates to design an aesthetically compatible addition to their present building, to enhance and update library services, while maintaining its present location and architectural integrity. By utilizing computer enhanced photographic imaging, Thorp Associates was able to accurately depict the proposed addition to assist the community in visualizing the library's potential. Successfully built as a community effort without government funding, the facility matches brick and wood colors and detailing used in the original Carnegie design to enable the whole to be as congruous as possible nearly a century later. |
| Berthoud Public Library - Berthoud, Colorado |
 Recognizing the great need for a new and expanded library facility in the town of Berthoud, Colorado, Drs. R.B. and Helen Fickel, long time residents of the area, gifted a new 6,000 square foot library to the community, which Thorp Associates was fortunate to design. Working closely with the Fickels and the library board, the project design includes a separate children's library, fully automated adult and reference library space, and a quiet reading nook. The centrally located circulation and technical processing area allows for control of the entire library from one location. The building includes a separate meeting room and public restrooms, available even when the library is closed. The structure was designed in masonry block and standing seam metal roofing to coordinate with other nearby municipal buildings. |