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The concept of the Hespeler Library revitalization derives from two essential historic lenses.

The first references the town’s historic past. During the Second World War Hespeler was the largest mill town in Canada, producing uniforms and employing nearly 5,000 workers (roughly the town’s current-day population).

The second lens references Andrew Carnegie who conceived the construction of these monumental public libraries across Canada and internationally. Carnegie was a strong advocate for continuing education of the working class but was also strictly opposed to Union forces in employment, creating two opposing images of character.

The Hespeler Library therefore, covers the existing Carnegie library in a glass veil, paying homage to the textile manufacturers of Hespeler’s past. The veil does not reveal the old Carnegie Library at first glance and onlookers/users must study and investigate the building to uncover what is beneath the surface.

Conceptually significant, the envelope is also key in the sustainable operations of the facility - though the buildings’ usable net space has doubled, energy consumption has reduced by over half. Varying degrees of transparencies respond to interior programming, which consider adjacencies for most efficient work flow and patron access.

The Hespeler Library has received numerous design awards and has been published nationally and internationally.

“Collective memory has been honored here, as well as an updated idea about what makes a library desirable these days…Here is a library full of lessons for other communities across Canada: the need for new civic construction that equals or, possibly, betters the ideas from yesteryear.” - Lisa Rochon, Globe & Mail, August 4, 2007

“This building equally calls into question what we might mean by contextualism or regional specificity. The Hespeler Library is an uncompromising modern building, yet through a series of gestures - its subtle historical references, its scale, the way it holds the street corner, the entry forecourt, the play of reflections off existing buildings - it respects yet invigorates the surrounding historic fabric.” - Lola Sheppard, Canadian Architect, October 2007

“It was our good fortune to select the architects who creativity overcame the many functional drawbacks of the existing Carnegie building to give us a showcase library for the twenty-first century. The exterior makes a stunning statement in a community badly in need of a civic presence, while the interior provides an ordering progression through the library’s functional requirements.” - Greg Hayton, Chief Librarian, Cambridge Libraries & Galleries

Project Stats

• Location: Cambridge, ON
• Completion: 2007
• Client: Cambridge Libraries & Galleries
• Size: 14,000 sq. ft.
• Awards: 2010, Ontario Library Association Award of Design Excellence; 2010, Zero Footprint Re-Skinning Award; 2009, OLA Library Building Award; 2008, OAA Award for Excellence; 2004, Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence