In the ’50s, it was the malt shop. In the ’80s, it was the mall. And in the ’00s, the new community gathering spot is a rather unlikely place: the public library.

At least that’s what architects are envisioning for a wave of library design and construction that is unfolding from one end of Los Angeles to the other, fueled by a $178.3 million bond issue approved in 1998. The program is giving architects a chance to rethink one of the most basic of public institutions, and many of them are seeking to create facilities that are a far cry from the old image of libraries as sanctuaries of books where patrons talk in hushed voices.

“The library is the center of the community for different age groups. We think the library should give that inviting feeling, where people can come and talk,” said architect Mahmoud Gharachedaghi, who is designing a new library in Mar Vista. “As a whole, it should be someplace where you can hang out, like a McDonald’s or movie theater, where you can go and talk with your friends and sit and read.”

As 32 branches are rolled out in the next four years, no two will look alike. Designers envision 350-foot-tall towers complete with castle-like areas for children, airy buildings with lots of natural light, playful shapes and in one case, even an indoor stream (though that plan was nixed by the city).

“We don’t want Rite Aid drug stores on every corner. These are very personal,” said Fontayne Holmes, director of the city’s Library Facilities Division. “You can have the address (of an existing branch) and know you’re going there and still pass it by. They’re not distinctive.”

To remedy that, the city chose 16 architectural firms, all with different visions and backgrounds, along with using city architects on a handful of the branches.

Durability plus flexibility

Whether the library fronts a busy boulevard in the San Fernando Valley or sits in a park in the Palisades, each project shares a common challenge to create a durable piece of civic architecture that is also flexible enough to accommodate multiple uses, from the Internet to children’s activities to community meetings to simply quiet reading space.

The new libraries are in various stages of design, site acquisition and approval. For half the projects, small, outmoded early-1960s-era branches give way to new buildings often two to three times as large. Others will be built on new sites, some in communities now without libraries, while a handful are expansions and renovations of existing buildings.

Each architect had to fuse his or her vision with budget constraints, limited building sites, existing neighborhood designs, desires of local residents and the city’s programming and parking requirements.

For architect Scott Johnson, the Playa Vista branch poses an interesting design challenge, considering it will be smack in the middle of a brand new neo-Urbanist community with its own standards for acceptable palettes and materials.

“I would like to do a community building that’s comfortable and accessible but that’s an exceedingly modern piece of architecture,” said Johnson, who also designed Fox Plaza and SunAmerica Center. “My philosophical challenge is how to get edge and modernity and a building of its own time, even if the streetscape is New Traditional.”

He envisions “a tremendous amount of natural light,” with a central gathering place two and a half stories high, surrounded by the shelves of books.

Gharachedaghi sees his mission in part as imbuing the Mar Vista library and surrounding neighborhood with a strong architectural theme, where none currently exists.

“It’s near a major street Venice Boulevard and as such, we think it should be very inviting and make a statement for the location and function and even for the architecture,” Gharachedaghi said.

Each side of the vaulted building will sport different window treatments. The tallest section, with a 350-foot-tall roof, will be the children’s story room. Separated from the main structure by a small corridor, it will be a sort of “castle area, a fun place,” with cushioned benches.

Another fun idea he contemplated for inside was turned down by the city because of the potential maintenance cost: An indoor stream under a Plexiglas cover, so it could be seen but not touched.

Green designs

Several architects are taking to heart “sustainable design,” making their buildings environmentally friendly and using recycled materials, often from the old buildings.

“This is a driver of form at least equal to any other driver,” said James Weiner of Fields Devereaux Architects, designer of the Sun Valley branch. “You have an opportunity to have environmental responsibility mesh with the functions of a library.”

That goal is achieved at Sun Valley through skylights and specially coated glass in the windows, as well as the mass of the concrete-block building and exterior insulation, which allows it to cool more easily.

For some designers, the surrounding environment is so compelling it helps dictate the design. For example, architect Hal Fremer’s approach is to set off the Valley Plaza branch “as a piece of sculpture, an object” in its park setting.

“It’s something very playful,” Fremer said. “The park-like atmosphere gives us something we can attach to.”

That means lots of glazing and a patio for performances, puppet shows or just reading. Each area, for children, teens and adults, will be expressed with a different shape. The children’s area will be oval, for example, with windows in “odd, playful shapes” and walls painted with primary colors.

Holmes said one goal of the building program is that the branches relate to their individual communities. To that end, the architects are required to hold community meetings to gather input.

“There is a desire for the building to reflect its context,” said Scott Carde of the firm Carde Ten, which is designing the Chinatown branch. “It’s looking at the city as not just a homogeneous grouping of people and needs but recognizing that libraries are connected to their neighborhoods and need particular design, not generic design.”

But when the current Chinatown branch, which is housed in an elementary school, moves to a new building at Hill and Ord streets, don’t look for a red pagoda.

“We don’t want to build just a rip-off of a Chinese-looking building. It wouldn’t do service to a community-wide civic structure,” Carde said.

He describes the design more as a light-filled, modern pavilion based on traditional Chinese architectural and spatial concepts, articulated both with columns and walls. Windows will loop around the upper portions of the walls, giving the appearance that the roof is floating.

Palisades residents also had specific ideas for their branch, which sits on the edge of a park.

“The neighborhood requested something informal and rustic in appearance,” said architect Wade Killefer. Local stone will be used on the fa & #231;ade and “a lot of wood.”