The Riverside Library and Cultural Center accommodates several different, yet compatible, community needs for the Town of Evans. By combining a community library, meeting and conferencing spaces, historic artifact displays, city offices, a coffee shop/internet café, and an Evans Police substation, the new center serves as the community’s gathering place, with a mix of uses that will generate activity throughout the day and evenings.

The facility fits respectfully within the character of the surrounding historic residential neighborhood with its use of reclaimed brick from the historical schoolhouse previously located on the site, pitched roofs, and landscaped courtyard. The significance of the railroad in the city of Evans can be seen in the massing and gable form of the library visually connecting the building to historic train depot stations while respecting the symbolic importance of the library to a community. The ‘U’ shaped plan of the one-story building defines an entry courtyard that is surrounded by a perimeter arcade and lobby, highlighted by a bell tower that that supports the antique schoolhouse bell. A common lobby area connects all programmed uses while providing additional common use space.

Interior materials include materials repurposed from the original schoolhouse building: wood flooring, chalk boards, stone lintels, and various artifacts. The color palette and floor finishes abstractly reference the railroad tracks slicing through the plains. The library interior is an open volume space flooded with natural daylight from north facing windows and borrowed daylight from the courtyard and lobby. Furniture and fixtures are modular and moveable, creating opportunities for flexibility in programmed uses and community needs.