Bronx Library Center

The story

The largest library in the Bronx is also the first green library in New York City, earning LEED Silver certification when it opened in January 2006. It replaced the Fordham Branch Library, tripling the space its predecessor had offered. Designed by Richard Dattner of Dattner Architects, the $50 million building is defined by a sloping curved roof and a sweeping glass curtain wall along its eastern face. At 78,000 square feet, it sits on Kingsbridge Road overlooking Fordham Road, highly visible and unmistakably permanent — the Bronx's central library, finally built to scale.