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2017 Winner: Boston Public Library

Photo Credit: Boston Public Library

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Thanks to the final phase of renovations unveiled last summer, the Johnson building’s forbidding Brutalist facade is now as inviting as an open book. Gone are the granite plinths and tinted glass that separated the Central Library from bustling Boylston Street, replaced by trees and more than 200 feet of welcoming windows. Designed by William Rawn Associates, the makeover also encompassed a new innovation center, an expanded fiction section, a WGBH satellite studio, the Newsfeed Cafe and a far more open and intuitive ground floor with plenty of perches for getting lost in a good read.

Boston Public Library

700 Boylston St., Boston • (617) 536-5400
bpl.org