Projects

Ramsey County Library

Location

Maplewood, MN

Architect

HGA Architects

General Contractor

McGough Construction

Industry

Government & Civic


The city of Maplewood was in need of a new library as a welcoming space for the community to gather and access reading materials in a comfortable, flexible space. MG McGrath partnered with HGA Architects and McGough Construction to build this 31,000 square foot library. Heavy emphasis was placed on reflecting the natural wetland landscape with sweeping views of the trees, earth-tone color palettes, and outdoor spaces to walk or sit. The uniquely designed space has everything book-lovers could want from a variety of different reading spaces, comfortable seating, a sculpture garden, a central lobby,  and an outdoor reading porch.


For the exterior of the Maplewood Library, our team fabricated and installed nearly 8,000 square feet of RHEINZINK zinc-coated sheet metal into our own custom H-Seam (Hook Seam) wall panel system. These flat lock panels feature a Graphite Grey finish. Other wall systems fabricated and installed by our team included 8,500 square feet of an .090” flush seam expanded aluminum metal mesh rainscreen system, and 8,500 square feet of Black Kynar prefinished/painted liner panels. All of the expanded metal mesh has various anodized finishes ranging from Black, Dark Bronze, Wine, Burgundy, and Red.

McGrath didn’t just show us what the next steps were, they took them with us. The project came out better than we imagined because they were involved.

Steve Berg Principal, BWBR Architects