MRA provided project management, architecture, structural and civil engineering, landscape architecture, and surveying services for the new 17,472-GSF library, with expansion capabilities to 22,000 SF.
Designing the Claymont Library was quite a challenge. The site was covered with three stormwater management ponds that serviced the surrounding 60-acre residential development. The Friends of the Claymont Library requested a landmark building with a “wow” factor that would address all of Claymont, not just the immediate neighborhood. MRA reengineered the existing stormwater management ponds, creating a hilltop parcel overlooking the residences, serving as a prominent focal point for a future boulevard. Tremendous cost savings were realized though a careful grading/earthwork analysis while still satisfying structural fill requirements. MRA also rewrote the Neighborhood Design Guidelines, on behalf of the County, to allow us to locate parking conveniently near the front door, while depressing the grade elevation in order to screen the parked cars from the neighborhood.
