The library at 5430 S. Biscay Circle features a large sitting porch with good views of the Front Range mountains as well as an interior courtyard around which the whole library is organized.

Last October, Adolfson and Peterson Construction started building the Arapahoe Library District Smoky Hill Branch. It was completed a year and a half later. The library totals 42,000-sf on two levels including a 1,300-sf interior sky-lit courtyard with a fountain.

"The colors are warm and welcoming in the courtyard to make it feel like an outdoor space," says designer Marsha Hocevar. "The floor materials have an organic patterning that reference a garden. Upstairs the seating is comfortable and takes advantage of the big fireplace like an old world reading room. Also, on the second floor, there's a porch facing west where readers can sit in rocking chairs and enjoy a panoramic view from Long's Peak to Pike's Peak." The branch has the second largest children's library in Colorado.

Bruce Flynn, principal in charge, and Susie Nelson, senior associate at BRSA, designed and managed the construction of the project working closely with Eloise May, the director of Arapahoe Library District.