Project Title: Friends Academy – Kumar Wang Library
Project Location: Locust Valley , NY
Size: 23,797 SF
Date Started: October 1999
Date of Completion: July 2000
Architect: Beatty Harvey and Associates
Owner: Friends Academy

E.W. Howell constructed a new 23,797 SF library at the Locust Valley, NY, campus of Friends Academy, an exclusive private school for pre-school through secondary school students.

The new library was designed to complement the existing architecture of the school's buildings, some of which date back to the 1890's.  The library has a brick veneer façade, clad wood casement windows and an asphalt shingle roof.  The main entrance is flanked by columns and crowned with an arch of glass windows; a painted wood fascia and lead coated copper roofing.  Other architectural details like the cupola and the windows that surround it, allow the new building to blend seamlessly with its surroundings.

The structural steel building was designed with a lower level, which includes a multimedia lab and storytelling room.  The main level contains a computer area, reference sections and a librarian's office. At the center of the main floor is an area for casual seating.  Stacks and instructional rooms will be located on the second floor.  A bridge has also been constructed from the second floor of the library for access to and from the campus's main academic building.

The main floor seating area can be viewed from an octagonal opening in the second floor and mezzanine.  A custom made chandelier that is hung from a pulley system in the cupola and operated from a mechanical room in the mezzanine will illuminate the seating area.