Post by robeiae on Oct 4, 2019 12:35:29 GMT -5
The new Hunters Point Library on Long Island, took 15+years to build at a cost of $41 million, yet amazingly is not fully accessible for the hadicapped or for people with strollers: gothamist.com/news/new-41-million-hunters-point-library-has-one-major-flaw
nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/iffy-accessibility-at-hunters-point-community-library.html
This is an article praising its beauty: www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/arts/design/hunters-point-community-library.html
It is a nice looking place, but the writer in this piece seems oblivious to its obvious failings.
Me, I have to ask how wise it was to spend this kind of money on a library, to begin with. I love libraries, but must of them around here are so empty that they've severely cut back on their hours and staff. This one in Hunters Point would seem to require more staff as a matter of course now, in order to satisfy the needs of people who can't negotiate stairs. So it seems to me that it is set to become a permanent money drain.
Because although the Hunters Point Library has an elevator, it does not stop at three fiction sections, which are tiered on three separate levels above the lobby. To Bachner, the design seemed like an obvious flaw. How would elderly library patrons looking to peruse the fiction shelves negotiate all those stairs?
nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/iffy-accessibility-at-hunters-point-community-library.html
The library was designed to satisfy the Americans With Disabilities Act, and it’s true that, even in that problem area, the level that can be reached by elevator is functionally identical to those that can’t: same counter, same chargers, same view. Except that there are books on those inaccessible shelves — books that not everyone can browse, or even reach without the help of a librarian.
[snip]
I once asked the Irish disabilities activist Sinéad Burke what one message she would have for a roomful of architects starting work on a fresh design. “Make accessibility beautiful,” she said. She might have added the corollary: “If it’s not accessible, it can’t be beautiful to all.”
[snip]
I once asked the Irish disabilities activist Sinéad Burke what one message she would have for a roomful of architects starting work on a fresh design. “Make accessibility beautiful,” she said. She might have added the corollary: “If it’s not accessible, it can’t be beautiful to all.”
This is an article praising its beauty: www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/arts/design/hunters-point-community-library.html
It is a nice looking place, but the writer in this piece seems oblivious to its obvious failings.
Me, I have to ask how wise it was to spend this kind of money on a library, to begin with. I love libraries, but must of them around here are so empty that they've severely cut back on their hours and staff. This one in Hunters Point would seem to require more staff as a matter of course now, in order to satisfy the needs of people who can't negotiate stairs. So it seems to me that it is set to become a permanent money drain.