Viewed from NE Knott Street on a fall afternoon, the recently remodeled and expanded Albina Library looked much like it did upon opening in 1912: a Spanish Renaissance–style beauty with a terra-cotta roof and arched windows. Except, remarkable for 2025, it was full of people. Across the block, even more people streamed through its modern glass- and brick-clad addition, which connects at the back, placing the new main entrance on NE Russell. But more than changing where you enter, the renovations reflect a radical shift in what exactly libraries are for.
Inside, an English as a Second Language class filled a community room big enough to host line dancing classes on other days. Afternoon light poured through a two-story glass wall and onto the open staircase. Mostly gray-haired patrons filled the reading room upstairs, where beneath an exposed-timber ceiling dozens of bookshelves gave way to comfy seating, art-filled walls, and views over residential rooftops. Nearby: a dedicated space for teens, with beanbags and video-game consoles; a maker space with 3D printers, sewing machines, and art supplies; and a children’s area filled with rounded play structures mirroring the historic windows.
“The building was envisioned as a living room for the community,” says Thomas Robinson, founder of Lever Architecture, the project’s designer. It’s more like a house—including a yard. The lobby opens onto a courtyard filled with native plants like Oregon sunshine, friendly to native butterfly species, and an abstract mural by Portland artist Daren Todd devoted to local histories of displacement and recovery: Shapes reference Oregon leaves and trees, emphasizing a connection to land, and a river and a road symbolize the Vanport Flood and I-5’s early-’60s construction…