FAIRBANKS — The new design for the Noel Wien Public Library lobby includes three big planters with trees and attached tables and benches.
Work on the estimated $70,846 project is expected to start as soon as late July, according to an email from the Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Works Department.
The new ficus trees are expected to stand about 10 feet tall, and the lobby will have other greenery plus new carpeting and new wall panels.
Colors are still being determined, according to Kevin Halverson, project manager.
The borough decided on the final design after gathering ideas at multiple public meetings last winter.
John Rowe, landscape architect at Design Alaska, turned the ideas into technical illustrations.
The public meetings were held after outcry over plans to cut down the four weeping fig trees that have adorned the lobby for 40 years.
The trees outlived expectations and grew too close to overhead lights, causing concerns about potential fire hazards.
An effort to save the trees was launched last year with hundreds of people signing an online petition.
Various design concepts for the new lobby were offered at the public meetings.
Some of the ideas included walls of greenery and “sculptural trees,” or art made to look like trees.
Commenters put a priority on having real, standalone trees.
The borough also considered having one large rectangular planter with attached seating, but the idea proved less popular than having multiple planters.
The lobby makeover is part of a larger ongoing project to update electrical and mechanical systems at the library.
Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7587. Follow her on Twitter: @FDNMborough.
