City of Riverside, Riverside Main Library

Project Summary

The new Riverside Main Library is more than simply a place to warehouse books, it’s a community center that includes meeting rooms, group study rooms, a double-height multipurpose room, an outdoor terrace, and a ground floor shaded plaza for events.

The 38,670 SF, four-story building is now home to the City of Riverside’s new main library, located in Downtown Riverside. The first story includes a large outdoor public plaza within the building’s footprint for use in community events and as public reading space. The library itself occupies the third and fourth floors, with the second floor of the building dedicated to archival space. Additional programming includes a children’s reading room and an innovation center equipped with a virtual reality station, 3D printers, and a sound recording booth.

MGAC's Role

The full-block site was previously occupied by an old police station and parking lot and had deteriorated over time. The architect on the project, Johnson Favaro, brought MGAC on board to provide cost estimates at the concept stage, schematic design stage, and for permit submittal documents. The concept stage included cost comparisons of a different numbers of stories.