Central Library relocation

[TurismoDreamin]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090526_11_A1_TheTul980689

For what it's worth, I personally like the 11th and Denver location the best.
..oh what will become of the civic center with city hall and the library vacating...

[Nik]

Man, I would love a new library. And I think I like the East End location best. Combine the new library with the foot traffic around the stadium and a possible light rail stop and you could have something real nice going on.

[Townsend]

Central Library rebuild planning set to begin

Tulsa World article:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111010_11_A1_CUTLIN663375&rss_lnk=439

[carltonplace]

Central Library rebuild planning set to begin

Tulsa World article:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111010_11_A1_CUTLIN663375&rss_lnk=439

This statement leads me to believe that the current location would not change:

Determining future entrances, street and alley traffic and paths to the nearby planned hotel and plaza will play into the design, Scherer said.

[Ronnie Lowe]

I was happy to hear that Central library is staying put.  Now I'll cross my fingers and hope that the renovation does not diminish the structure.  Often renovations look good for a decade or two.  Then the renovated elements stick out like a sore thumb.  It's the same phenomena associated with faked paintings.  That fake Picasso might fool the eye until the period when the fake was executed passes.  In other words each stylistic period has its own idea of what a Picasso looks like.  Anyway, in regards to architecture, that's why a restoration is preferable to a renovation.  It wears better.
 
Which brings me to another issue that bears on wear and tear.  It's maintenance.  Buildings are built to be maintained.  There is a whole industry built around maintenance.  It's called a reserve.  Meaning every year you save and put back money to cover planned maintenance of the building.  With maintenance, a building's life is unlimited.

Anyway, what's lacking in Tulsa is maintenance of our buildings.

Have you ever driven west from the east coast?  If you do you'll notice that as you travel west, the structures are noticeably less and less well maintained, until you get to Oklahoma and here you'll often find structures that have not been maintained at all.  Broken down old shack barn kind of things by the road.

For a people that like to think they know the value of a dollar, we are not good stewards of our buildings and that is not very prudent.  Not very Protestant of us.  You know, waste not want not.

So to make a long story short.  I'm happy the Central Library is going to stay put.  It's a lovely building.  Still, even after that hideous purple signage and the turkey sculpture was added by the last administration.  I hope the architect is true to the original design.