Size

Build: 23,000 sq. ft. / 2137 sq. m.

Year

Unbuilt

Client

Cleveland Public Library Foundation

Services

Design

Partners

Cleveland Public Library Foundation, LDA Architects, Hood Design Studio

Portrait of David Saladik
David Saladik
Senior Principal
David Saladik

David Saladik

Senior Principal

David Saladik is a Senior Principal overseeing MASS’s international health portfolio. Having joined MASS in 2008 during the design of the Butaro District Hospital, his work over the last decade has been aimed at leveraging the built environment to improve health outcomes as well as engage and empower communities. He has spearheaded MASS’s expansion into new geographies focused on long-term health systems strengthening, establishing new offices in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Monrovia, Liberia.

David currently co-leads MASS’s largest office in Kigali, Rwanda with more than 80 architects, landscape architects, and engineers. Notable recent projects for which he has served as Principal-in-Charge include the Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre, a 520-bed teaching hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Norrsken Kigali House, an incubator for social entrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda; and the development of health facility standards with the Ministry of Health of Lagos State.

He has taught design studios at Northeastern University and Roger Williams rethinking primary care health centers to maximize positive social impact and resiliency. In parallel to this research, he led the design of the Family Health Center in McKinney, Texas - MASS’s first built US healthcare project.

Design Team

Emily Goldenberg, Emma Colley, Jhanea D Amazi, Jeff Mansfield, Nadia Perlepe

Collaborators

Architect of Record: LDA
Landscape Design; Hood Design Studio,
Exhibition Design; Local Projects,
Placemaking & Development Consultant; Marika Shioiri-Clark,
Community Engagement; Chris Maurer and Ben Herring of Redhouse Studio,
Artist; Hank Willis Thomas,
Sarah Lewis, Exhibition Consultant

Our building form is a three-dimensional manifestation of the “Crossroads” quilting pattern symbol, and as such, the entire building is laid out on a diagonal grid. Over top of this triangulated glass form is laid a “garment” covering made of faceted colored glass patterns chosen through our work with Hank Willis Thomas, which shows the “Flying Geese” symbol and acts as a rain screen and shade device. The “garment” floats freely at the west end of the building and gradually becomes more attached to the building underneath at the building entrance to the east, where one can either enter directly from Euclid Avenue or by ascending a grand public staircase to a light-filled Grand reading room and public square on the second floor.

MLK Cleveland Library Courtyard

The Anisfield Wolf collection is housed centrally in a dramatic freestanding sculptural volume that can be seen from both main floors, and houses story booths that provide a direct way for visitors to hear and share stories, as well as to learn about the stories highlighted in the Anisfield Wolf collection.

MLK Cleveland Library Interior

The landscape design continues that language of the quilted garment pattern onto the plaza, and introduces a series of sculptural busts of Anisfield Wolf writers and local leaders, a collection which we imagine could continue to grow over time. These busts continue the narrative of sharing and revealing hidden stories, lifting up voices far beyond the bounds of the building itself.

MLK Cleveland Library Aerial
MLK Cleveland Library Interior
MLK Cleveland Library at night
Anisfield Wolf Collection