New Castle County Route 9 Library and Innovation Center
The Library and Innovation Center anchors a new Innovation Campus designed to revitalize one of the most underserved communities in the State of Delaware.
Through a robust programming and public engagement process, the design team worked with neighborhood stakeholders to identify a variety of new services that will build professional skills, increase literacy, and put 21st-century technology in the hands of community members.
The library’s design provides an array of innovative program spaces under a single, protective canopy, including a black box performance space, STEM lab, media production studio, maker space, scriptorium, LEGO room, outdoor farmer’s market, teaching kitchen, and a sensory room developed in partnership with Autism Delaware.
For generations, the public library was a “have to” destination, often the only source for books, maps, films, and information. The Route 9 Library + Innovation Center is a “want to” destination—an exciting, vibrant, experiential, learning-focused place tailored to the needs of the community.
The Sensory Room was developed with Autism Delaware to host a space with tunable visual, auditory, tactile, and proprioceptive stimulation modules that are controlled by the user. Children on the autism spectrum can tailor the space to his or her preference to gain focus while developing personal literacy skills.
