The Fulbright Building was built in 1962 to house the Fayetteville Public Library and remained the Library’s home until it was moved to a new facility in 2004. The building was originally designed by noted Fayetteville architect, Warren Seagraves. The renovation and addition revitalized the civic quality of an architecturally significant modernist library building, while inserting a new program of professional offices.
The exposed steel frame and grid of the original structure is left intact. Brick infill walls were removed and replaced with a storefront system of translucent and clear glass, providing the envelope with additional light and view. Tenant office spaces are configured independent of the existing structural grid and are stacked, organized around new open stairways naturally lit from skylights cut into the existing roof above, enhancing the marketability of the lower floor tenant spaces.
An existing double height space with ADA circulation for the old library was converted into a large conference lounge area wrapped in maple plank with an acoustical ‘shroud’, a sculptural figure clad in black zinc suspended from above. An elevated addition extends the original building to the east. An orange steel-grate stair is illuminated from above by a continuous open slot, a spatial joint between the existing building and the new addition. A courtyard emerges by transforming adjacent residual under space into glass enclosed offices.
