West Las Vegas Library

The new West Las Vegas Library will stand as a living monument that pays tribute to the African American experience of the Historic Westside, a resilient neighborhood that emerged from the shadow of segregation and civic injustices during the 1930s. The new facility will provide enhanced resources and services aimed at improving the neighborhood’s socioeconomic plight. This state-of-the-art library, with its inviting exterior, multipurpose programming, and visual wayfinding, will create special moments and engage visitors in an educational journey. The design aligns with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s goals by offering various programs that support literacy, family learning, and social services while expanding technology access through innovation and multi-media creation labs. The new facility features a homework help station, teen lounge areas, children-centered technology, and dedicated story time areas—amenities that were once limited. Through community engagement with local leaders, residents and library staff, the team developed a one-stop community hub serving this library and the community at large. There were important site-related constraints to consider such as proximity to the existing library, walking distances to schools and community centers, and connection to neighborhood infrastructure. The new facility will be located in the heart of the Historic Westside nearby the newly built Legacy Park and current library, part of the Las Vegas Enterprise Park, a mixed-use business park that is home to other vital organizations. On the East façade, an LED display communicates events, announcements, and special themed holidays to patrons. The lobby is a pre-functional space that connects North, East and West entrances to the library. Inspired by the vernacular Southern porches, two porch-like entrances bookend the Library’s North and East entrances to create continuity with the building’s indoor-outdoor circulation paths. The porches invite patrons inside while extending into a breezeway courtyard ideal for social gatherings and as a pre-function space to the multipurpose event center. Native landscape and a flexible outdoor plaza act as additional programmable space with the urbanscape elements providing a pleasant connection to the nearby Historic Westside Legacy Park. Inside, visitors will be greeted by an open, light-filled atrium with ample interior glazing, providing passersby with views into the makerspace and classrooms. Interior spaces prioritize flexibility and adaptability by integrating emerging technologies to meet the community's evolving needs. Thoughtful patterns and finish selections pay homage to African American cultural contributions and the vibrant hues of the surrounding Las Vegas landscape. The design team was able to include sustainable design features that maximize efficiency of systems and create a high-performing LEED Silver building by reducing water and energy consumption and enhancing indoor environment through the selection of sustainable finishes. With the financial goals for this project, the design meets all programming needs while creating an aesthetically pleasing facility that considers sustainability, culture, history, and overall library functions. Large conventional materials complement the neighborhood fabric, giving the freedom to allocate the budget to architectural features including a LED display, a breezeway courtyard, and accentuating the building mass with metal and glazing finishes.