On May 23rd, the NH Chapter of USGBC NH toured the recently renovated and expanded Peterborough Library. It was a beautiful spring evening. Corinne Chronopoulos, Library Director greeted us warmly and toured us around the beautiful spaces. Annum Architects (formerly Ann Beha Architects) were unable to join us but provided the following narrative about the project:
“Our 17,320 GSF expansion and renovation of the Peterborough Town Library creates a new civic forum for Peterborough with a design that is in three parts. At one end is the original 1893 masonry building, with its restored reading room, special collections storage, and offices. At the other end, and balancing the original building in scale, massing, and materiality, is a new community wing with a flexible auditorium and multi-purpose classrooms. In between a new connector building provides open and transparent spaces for children, young adult, and general collections, as well as the help desk, and technical services. The Library is located in the center of Peterborough with expansive views of the adjacent Contoocook River. The building’s glass facades, reading porch, new gardens, parking lot, and a river terrace connect the Library with town life, offering additional settings for community gatherings outside. An adjacent building is retrofitted to accommodate a biomass boiler to heat and cool the Library, partially financed by state grants, while electrical loads are offset by roof-mounted photovoltaics.”
We were joined by Revision Energy who described the solar electric system (which generated 78,000 KWH of electricity in 2023) and by Froling Energy who showed us the unique biomass system which is used to provide heating and cooling via a Yazaki Absorption Chiller using water as the refrigerant and lithium bromide as the absorbent. After the tour the group enjoyed refreshments and conversation in one of the community rooms and departed into the lovely evening.
