NLV residents’ input welcomed for library

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1998 | 10:49 a.m.

North Las Vegas residents are getting the chance to be part-time architects on their new library to be located on Alexander Road west of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The Lucchesi Galati architect firm invited residents to help design the new North Las Vegas Library at a meeting at Addeliar Guy Elementary School Tuesday night.

"The more input we can get from the community, the better the library will be," said Craig Galati, a representative for the architects. "We have done no design work on the library prior to today, so these people are right there at the ground floor with us."

Lucchesi Galati used the input of the community in its design of the Laughlin Library.

The company uses what it calls "design charrettes" to get community input and incorporate it into a building's design.

"What usually happens is that we get a core group of 12 to 15 people that participate in a week of meetings," Galati said. "Those people are broken into four or five groups who come up with ideas of what the library should be. Then we all get together and critique the ideas and come up with a hybrid that we use for the design."

About 20 people showed up at Tuesday night's meeting, but North Las Vegas Councilwoman Paula Brown asked that they get the word out about the charrettes before choosing groups.

"It's a great opportunity for the community to get involved," said Brown, who also serves as chairwoman of North Las Vegas' library board. "The community has been involved in the design of parks and other projects in the city and it has proven to be very helpful and very rewarding."

Residents started the design for the new library rolling by giving the architects opinions on what they liked and did not like about some of the valley's libraries.

"We want this library to have things for kids," said Cindy Kultala, a North Las Vegas resident. "We want programs during track break, and an outdoor amphitheater for them to put on shows."

Other requests included quiet study areas, computer labs and conference rooms for town hall meetings and programs.

The charrettes will be held in the community room of the old North Las Vegas Library at 2300 Civic Center Drive. The first meeting is planned for 6 p.m. Oct. 19.

Brown said the library board is concentrating on getting the design going and acquiring funding for library. The new building will carry an estimated price tag of about $6.5 million.

"Once we get the design done and some of the funding lined up we'll have a better idea of a target completion date," Brown said.