The Capital Campaign Committee is pleased to announce the receipt of a $10,000 Infrastructure Grant from the Maine Humanities Council to assist in the purchase audio/visual equipment, including audio systems, projection systems, and public address systems. This equipment will be installed in the newly renovated Rines Auditorium and adjacent meeting rooms scheduled for completion in spring 2010.
The Maine Humanities Council has been a significant partner in supporting Library services and technologies that advance our ability to deliver quality humanities programs. With this up-to-date audio/visual equipment the Library will increase the number of humanities programs of various types, including presentations, small musical performances, and film projections. Our goal is to engage broad audiences in humanities programs, as well as create lifelong user relationships with the Library.
The new audio/visual equipment will offer enhanced audience experience through appropriate sound amplification and visual quality, particularly for elderly audiences. Moreover, the equipment will enable the Library to record events for wider dissemination, such as via podcasting and video avenues.
With an eye on the budget, the Library will have fully equipped facilities available for rental for conferences, seminars, and meetings. For more information on advanced scheduling of rentals after May 1, 2010, please contact Wendy Nowell, nowell@portland.lib.me.us.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The renovation got underway in April, signaled by a change in traffic flow on Congress and Elm Streets with striping and concrete barriers. New pedestrian walkways and vehicle pathways were also created. Now the glass curtainwall and facade work on our building’s exterior can begin in May.
April was also when the interior of the Library became a full-fledged construction zone. Demolition of ducts and walls got underway on the Lower Level in the former Youth Services Library and Audio/ Video Area, on the Main floor, and at the Triangle (an infill area on the 3rd floor in Technical Services). Construction on the 3rd floor to infill the open triangle also began. Temporary dust walls were installed by the glass skylight at the North elevation (skylight facing Marginal Way).
Demolition work continued into early May. In addition, new work began on the "overhang" of Level 4 that abuts Room 316, as well as some work in the courtyard.
The official commencement of construction was celebrated on Thursday, May 7, 2009, with a Groundbreaking Ceremony. The event marks a new chapter for Portland Public Library as its main branch on Monument Square undergoes a significant 43,300 SF renovation. Speakers at the Ceremony included Morris Fisher, President, Board of Trustees; Nick Mavodones, Jr., Portland City Councilor and former Mayor; Scott Simons, Principal, Scott Simons Architects; and Steve Podgajny, Executive Director, Portland Public Library.
> Morris Fisher speaking, Nick Mavodones
Following the remarks Library project representatives broke ground to honor the occasion: Peter Barnard, President, Ledgewood Construction; Taffy Field, former President, Board of Trustees; Joe Gray, City Manager, City of Portland; Morris Fisher, President, Board of Trustees; Nick Mavodones, City Councilor and former Mayor; Scott Simons, Principal, Scott Simons Architects; and Steve Podgajny, Executive Director, Portland Public Library.
April was also when the interior of the Library became a full-fledged construction zone. Demolition of ducts and walls got underway on the Lower Level in the former Youth Services Library and Audio/ Video Area, on the Main floor, and at the Triangle (an infill area on the 3rd floor in Technical Services). Construction on the 3rd floor to infill the open triangle also began. Temporary dust walls were installed by the glass skylight at the North elevation (skylight facing Marginal Way).
Demolition work continued into early May. In addition, new work began on the "overhang" of Level 4 that abuts Room 316, as well as some work in the courtyard.
The official commencement of construction was celebrated on Thursday, May 7, 2009, with a Groundbreaking Ceremony. The event marks a new chapter for Portland Public Library as its main branch on Monument Square undergoes a significant 43,300 SF renovation. Speakers at the Ceremony included Morris Fisher, President, Board of Trustees; Nick Mavodones, Jr., Portland City Councilor and former Mayor; Scott Simons, Principal, Scott Simons Architects; and Steve Podgajny, Executive Director, Portland Public Library.
> Morris Fisher speaking, Nick MavodonesFollowing the remarks Library project representatives broke ground to honor the occasion: Peter Barnard, President, Ledgewood Construction; Taffy Field, former President, Board of Trustees; Joe Gray, City Manager, City of Portland; Morris Fisher, President, Board of Trustees; Nick Mavodones, City Councilor and former Mayor; Scott Simons, Principal, Scott Simons Architects; and Steve Podgajny, Executive Director, Portland Public Library.
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Urban Screen, proposed for the Library’s façade in our forthcoming renovation, has gathered a certain amount of press attention (Tux Turkel, “Portland library to undergo 21st-century makeover,” Portland Press Herald, February 17, 2009). Understandably so! It’s an exciting feature of the new Library.
But a correction to this reporting is necessary. While we are enthusiastic about the Urban Screen, it is not part of this first phase of construction.
We hope the Urban Screen will be installed in Phase II, although it is not included in the budget and funding will depend on additional private donations.
We also will spend additional time considering the various questions that have come our way after the article’s printing (audio, content of material, types of use, billboard regulations, etc.).
If you would like to learn more about the Urban Screen, see the description below:
URBAN SCREEN
Ver: 03/05/09
A Definition
Urban Screens are defined as large outdoor digital displays, such as daylight compatible LED signs and high-tech plasma screens, used in urban spaces. Although their use in advertisement and news is widely known and readably observable in major U.S. cities—the most obvious example being the Times Square Astrovision Screen in New York City, urban screens are at the beginning of a worldwide movement placing digital displays in public squares for cultural purposes.
In Europe, particularly, urban screens are given broad cultural content for Architecture, Art, Urban Studies, and Digital Culture. As Mirjam Struppek of Urban Media Research in Berlin has said, “Urban Screens can be understood in the context of a reinvention of the public sphere and the urban character of cities, based on a well-balanced mix of functions and the idea of the inhabitant as active citizen instead of properly behaving consumer.” (“Urban Screens—The Urbane Potential of Public Screens for Interaction,” www.intelligentagent.com/archive.)
As a consequence, urban screens in public spaces have come to be defined as intelligent architectural surfaces or pixilated architecture, influential in creating a lively urban society and supporting the idea of public space as space for the creation and exchange of culture, strengthening local economy and cultural fabric, and providing local identity.
Permanent big screen cultural initiatives are located in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bremen, Brisbane, Dallas, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, Munich, and Seoul.
Successful urban screen events include outdoor screenings, international joint broadcasting, and online information platform for networking.
On Monument Square
The role of the public square has often been discussed in urban sociology, and Portland’s Monument Square provides an example of the successful interconnectedness of commerce, culture, politics, and social interactivity. As a public space, Monument Square is perfectly scaled for human interaction. Its architecture—wide ranging in age and style, with a major sculptural presence, offers a sense of local identity. Efforts to enhance commerce and attract community through public events and farmers markets have been aggressively addressed by the City of Portland and Portland Downtown
District. Moreover, plans to designate the Monument Square/ Congress Street area as an Historic District, complementing the existing Arts District, will positively congeal an already strong momentum in creating a square that is a significant place in the city.
Proposal: An Urban Screen on Portland Public Library
Portland Public Library supports the ongoing enhancement of Monument Square as an open public square for civic and cultural engagement and seeks to develop new interactivity between the public and downtown Portland’s Arts District through the renovation of its building which includes plans for the installation of a 17’x 21’ urban screen with live video capabilities on the façade.
The Library’s urban screen will offer important dimensions. Aesthetically, the addition of new digital interactive technologies on international style architecture will crystallize the facade’s dynamism, giving the Library much needed street presence. In practice, the urban screen will greatly enhance the Library’s ability to extend its programmatic outreach to the community.
We believe that the urban screen will also contribute to Portland’s maturity as a lively urban society and will broaden Monument Square as open civic and cultural space by interactively involving the community, including members from our large, racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood. Utilizing city marketing and urban management strategies, the urban screen has the potential of transforming Monument Square into one of America’s great small city public squares and defining Portland as a “Creative City” of global significance, attractive to creative entrepreneurs and tourists from around the world.
Portland Public Library will seek alliances with Portland’s Congress Street institutions to shape the future development of the urban screen within the context of Monument Square as an urban space and as a new art form for creative expression: Children’s Museum of Maine, Maine College of Art, Maine Historical Society, PCA Great Performances, Portland Museum of Art, Portland Ballet, Portland Stage Company, Portland Symphony Orchestra, PORTopera, and SALT Institute for Documentary Studies.
This group will consider Content Management, Curation, Participation of the Local Community, and Technical Requirements.
Portland’s Creative Economy
Portland Public Library’s urban screen will have important ramifications for the recommendations recently proposed by the Creative Economy Steering Committee to Portland City Council, particularly in developing and sustaining Portland’s Arts District (Creative Economy Steering Committee, “Report of Recommendations to the Portland City Council,” October 2008, 14, www.portlandmaine.gov/creativeeconomyreport.pdf).
In fact, the urban screen could be the “tipping point project,” a project identified by the Committee for the Arts District to give the area visibility, connect the cultural institutions, and engage the community (Creative Economy, p. 16).
But a correction to this reporting is necessary. While we are enthusiastic about the Urban Screen, it is not part of this first phase of construction.
We hope the Urban Screen will be installed in Phase II, although it is not included in the budget and funding will depend on additional private donations.
We also will spend additional time considering the various questions that have come our way after the article’s printing (audio, content of material, types of use, billboard regulations, etc.).
If you would like to learn more about the Urban Screen, see the description below:
URBAN SCREEN
Ver: 03/05/09
A Definition
Urban Screens are defined as large outdoor digital displays, such as daylight compatible LED signs and high-tech plasma screens, used in urban spaces. Although their use in advertisement and news is widely known and readably observable in major U.S. cities—the most obvious example being the Times Square Astrovision Screen in New York City, urban screens are at the beginning of a worldwide movement placing digital displays in public squares for cultural purposes.
In Europe, particularly, urban screens are given broad cultural content for Architecture, Art, Urban Studies, and Digital Culture. As Mirjam Struppek of Urban Media Research in Berlin has said, “Urban Screens can be understood in the context of a reinvention of the public sphere and the urban character of cities, based on a well-balanced mix of functions and the idea of the inhabitant as active citizen instead of properly behaving consumer.” (“Urban Screens—The Urbane Potential of Public Screens for Interaction,” www.intelligentagent.com/archive.)
As a consequence, urban screens in public spaces have come to be defined as intelligent architectural surfaces or pixilated architecture, influential in creating a lively urban society and supporting the idea of public space as space for the creation and exchange of culture, strengthening local economy and cultural fabric, and providing local identity.
Permanent big screen cultural initiatives are located in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bremen, Brisbane, Dallas, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, Munich, and Seoul.
Successful urban screen events include outdoor screenings, international joint broadcasting, and online information platform for networking.
On Monument Square
The role of the public square has often been discussed in urban sociology, and Portland’s Monument Square provides an example of the successful interconnectedness of commerce, culture, politics, and social interactivity. As a public space, Monument Square is perfectly scaled for human interaction. Its architecture—wide ranging in age and style, with a major sculptural presence, offers a sense of local identity. Efforts to enhance commerce and attract community through public events and farmers markets have been aggressively addressed by the City of Portland and Portland Downtown
District. Moreover, plans to designate the Monument Square/ Congress Street area as an Historic District, complementing the existing Arts District, will positively congeal an already strong momentum in creating a square that is a significant place in the city.
Proposal: An Urban Screen on Portland Public Library
Portland Public Library supports the ongoing enhancement of Monument Square as an open public square for civic and cultural engagement and seeks to develop new interactivity between the public and downtown Portland’s Arts District through the renovation of its building which includes plans for the installation of a 17’x 21’ urban screen with live video capabilities on the façade.
The Library’s urban screen will offer important dimensions. Aesthetically, the addition of new digital interactive technologies on international style architecture will crystallize the facade’s dynamism, giving the Library much needed street presence. In practice, the urban screen will greatly enhance the Library’s ability to extend its programmatic outreach to the community.
We believe that the urban screen will also contribute to Portland’s maturity as a lively urban society and will broaden Monument Square as open civic and cultural space by interactively involving the community, including members from our large, racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood. Utilizing city marketing and urban management strategies, the urban screen has the potential of transforming Monument Square into one of America’s great small city public squares and defining Portland as a “Creative City” of global significance, attractive to creative entrepreneurs and tourists from around the world.
Portland Public Library will seek alliances with Portland’s Congress Street institutions to shape the future development of the urban screen within the context of Monument Square as an urban space and as a new art form for creative expression: Children’s Museum of Maine, Maine College of Art, Maine Historical Society, PCA Great Performances, Portland Museum of Art, Portland Ballet, Portland Stage Company, Portland Symphony Orchestra, PORTopera, and SALT Institute for Documentary Studies.
This group will consider Content Management, Curation, Participation of the Local Community, and Technical Requirements.
Portland’s Creative Economy
Portland Public Library’s urban screen will have important ramifications for the recommendations recently proposed by the Creative Economy Steering Committee to Portland City Council, particularly in developing and sustaining Portland’s Arts District (Creative Economy Steering Committee, “Report of Recommendations to the Portland City Council,” October 2008, 14, www.portlandmaine.gov/creativeeconomyreport.pdf).
In fact, the urban screen could be the “tipping point project,” a project identified by the Committee for the Arts District to give the area visibility, connect the cultural institutions, and engage the community (Creative Economy, p. 16).
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