Following criticisms that three fiction sections inside the newly opened Hunters Point Library were accessible only by stairs, a Queens Public Library official announced late Friday that the books in those areas would be relocated to another place inside the building.
“Our goal is to be inclusive and provide access and opportunity to all,” said Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott, in a statement to Gothamist. “We will move the books to another location in the library and provide regular updates to the community.”
The $41 million building designed by Steven Holl has received rave architectural reviews in recent weeks. But after its official opening last week, some patrons began noticing accessibility flaws in the library's design, namely that the elevator does not stop on three levels that house fiction books. On Friday morning, New York Magazine's architectural critic, Justin Davidson, issued what amounted to a mea culpa for underestimating the building's lack of full accessibility.
Davidson said that while he did "mentally track the path that a visitor with a stroller or in a wheelchair would take to the children’s room or the teen hangout," he nevertheless "missed something important."
Referring to the three fiction levels that he originally described in his review as “terraced stacks, like a vineyard of words,” he now observed critically of himself: "I focused on the way study carrels and bookshelves were interleaved, making old-fashioned printed volumes a part of everyone’s experience. I did not focus on the fact that not everyone could get there."
On Twitter, many people responded to the original story with disbelief and outrage.
The Queens Public Library had initially sought to quell concerns about accessibility by saying that the building meets the requirements in the American Disabilities Act and that it would retrieve books for patrons unable to reach the three levels in question.
But Davidson wrote that "meeting legal requirements is a false standard; even vertical buildings can and should always be designed so that they offer the same quality of experience to everyone."
He added: "Staircases can be wonderful, providing drama, seating, exercise, and hangout spaces all at once — but they must never be the only option. Holl’s design, as sensitive as it is in many ways, fails to take that mandate seriously, and it’s a failure that I failed to notice."
