Q & A: Turning a Library into a Downtown Destination

Jeremy Laurentowski, the City of Moorpark Parks and Recreation Director, on finding the story that helped make a new library a catalyst for the city’s growing downtown.

As a trained landscape architect, City of Moorpark Parks and Recreation Director Jeremy Laurentowski brings a unique perspective to civic design and development. He is one of the local leaders actively engaged in revitalizing the city’s downtown, including a new LPA-designed library.

In an interview with Catalyst, Laurentowski discusses the search for the character and values that will define the development of the new downtown, and the library’s role in helping to establish that identity.

How did the story behind the library evolve?

When we started, we were interested in trying to preserve the character of our downtown. That was the number-one priority. Our High Street is like our hidden gem. Up until probably five years ago you would drive down our little downtown and there was really nothing there. There was some thought that having this library would bookmark downtown. It would take into consideration a lot of the things that were important to our city council.

Was there an existing style?

LPA was really challenged with that, because there was really nothing to go on. If you look at our downtown, there’s just a hodgepodge of a lot of different architectural styles. When we started with our prior architect back around six years ago, we just couldn’t get there. It was a struggle to get to the point where we felt like we were really capturing the essence of Moorpark. What are those old town values? We were looking for this timeless, inviting design without having anything to go on.

LPA came up with a building style that started with a barn. Jeremy [LPA Design Director Jeremy Hart] had this great story about how this barn can transition into a modern functioning library. The agrarian style really captured what the city council and the community were looking for. The community voted, and they overwhelmingly supported this agrarian style.

Did you find other ways to embody that agrarian theme into the library?

We knew this wasn’t going to look like a barn. That’s not what anybody wanted. But we still wanted to capture the essence of what that means. That was really important to us. Natural materials. Reclaimed wood. Steel roofs. Natural stone or bricks.

But you are also in a fire zone.

That was challenging, and it took a lot of time as we tried to coordinate with the Ventura County Fire Department to allow the use of reclaimed wood. I didn’t want to put up tile that looked like reclaimed wood. If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. I wanted to see beams. I wanted to see wood. I wanted to see all these soft, natural elements and not some tile that looks like wood grain. We had a lot of discussions with our fire department and our building department trying to figure out: How can we build this structure with wood in a high fire-severity zone?

What did you like about that process as the design evolved?

We’re not architects, and it was a great back-and-forth. Jeremy had no problem telling me what he thought, and I had no problem telling him what I thought. I think in the end we came up with a really beautiful building for Moorpark, and I think it fits Moorpark’s character perfectly.

What little elements do you like in the finished project?

I think the exterior of the building is really soft. The natural materials are great. Now we’re working on another project going down High Street where we brought in the same brick, the same look, especially on the streetscape. I think this is the bookend of High Street, and from there it’s just a really consistent look for our downtown. I think that’s exciting, and I think that’s going to really tie everything together.

How will people experience the themes within the library?

The whole inside of the library has taken on a lot of this agrarian feel with the vaulted wood ceilings and exposed beams. What LPA has done with the interior of the library is just as remarkable as the outside. It just flows right in. Even some of the stonework we have comes from the outside into the library and through the main corridor. It’s rustic, but it’s also real materials.

What impact is this going to have on that growth of your downtown?

We’ve got over 100,000 people coming in and out of our library every year. Having a library in an ideal location like that — where we’re not taking away valuable commercial space, but we’re creating an anchor at the end of downtown — we’re thinking that’s going to encourage more people to shop downtown, to eat downtown, and spend time downtown. Moorpark’s downtown is finally coming into its own. We’ve got a big development down there now, and this library is going to finish a lot of what I think our city wants.