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Carver Branch Library

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Architect Clarke Gernon Jr. of Remson-Haley-Herpin Architects had seen enough run-of-the-mill new libraries to know the oft-forgotten community off Highland Road deserved a distinctive new library.

"Basic brick and shingle roofs seemed a little out of place," Gernon says.

So Gernon and the team of architects who created the unique book barn made the building intensely specific, incorporating everything from the slope of land to the degree the sun rises to the view of the Mississippi River Bridge from the library's front windows. The new Carver branch on Terrace Street replaces the small, aging branch on Highland Road.

The library is tucked between downtown and LSU and provides what Gernon discovered was a perfectly framed view of the bridge.

"The minute you walk in, you are drawn back outside to connect with Baton Rouge the city," Gernon says. "It's the most identifiable icon of the city, the bridge is in every picture of the city you've ever seen."

In order to connect the building to the urban public surrounding it, the entire front facade is glass.

"You would be able to perceive or see what was happening in the building," Gernon says. "You open up the place, and you can see the books on the shelf. So when you drive by people say 'Oh, well that's a library."

Gernon's attention to detail for Carver is well deserved. The old Carver branch was neglected and in need of repair. Now, Gernon says the gleaming new library is routinely crowded, filled with students doing homework and readers digesting literature. It only seems fair, he says, considering a library's status among public spaces. "Libraries are up there with museums and churches," he says. They are buildings that have a lot of potential and a great purpose."