A few facts and figures about the Eden Prairie Library

History

• Eden Prairie Reading Center, Valley View Road and Eden Prairie Road, 1973-1986 - 1540 sq ft
• Eden Prairie Community Library, 479 Prairie Center Drive, 1986-2004 - 15,000 sq ft
• Eden Prairie Library 565 Prairie Center Drive, 2004 to present - 40,000 sq ft

Building Information

• Reuse of existing building – former grocery store
• Architect and Interior Design: Bentz/Thompson/Rietow Inc.
• Contractor: The Keystone Group
• Budget: $17.6 million (Land acquisition & consulting $4.8 million, Construction $6.3 million, Furniture & equipment $5.2 million, Collection $1.3 million)
• Site: 4.42 acres
• Collection Size: 150,000 items
• Large Meeting Room Capacity: 80
• Small Meeting Room Capacity: 20
• Public Computers: 82

Public Art

Exterior Wall
Artist: David Culver
Title of Work: Sprial
Location: North-facing exterior wall
Medium: Masonry treatment of stone, tile, and brick
Artist Statement: "The spiral is a powerful symbol of growth. From the center it emanates outward in an expanding progression. It is generated by order, yet seems to bespeak the ethereal, a combination of mathematical and organic."

Outdoor Planters
Artist: Craig David
Title: Untitled
Location: Front entrance
Medium: Masonry treatment of stone, tile, and brick
Artist Statement: "The form of the planters themselves, being horizontally proportioned, lends itself best to landscape-related imagery. The prairie of my imagination is one that construes images of flatness of rolling land."

Four Monumental Light Pillars
Artist: David Culver
Title of Work: Untitled
Location: Center of library interior
Medium: Masonry treatment of tile and stone
Artist Statement: "I believe this artwork can be a visual guide and anchor for the library. It creates an opportunity for one to have a private visual experience in a public place."

Wool Carpet Tiles
Artist: Shari Cornish
Title of Work: Untitled
Location: Children’s Area
Medium: Pigment painted industrial felt colored forms 100% New Zealand wool knotted area rug
Artist Statement: "The design is based on the Colorform sets using the rug as the ground on which to build images and forms using brightly colored pieces of felt."

Children’s Coat Rack
Artist: Melissa Carden Bean
Title of Work: ABC’s/Do You Know Them?
Location: Children’s Area
Medium: Ceramic tile mosaic, custom metal hooks
Artist Statement: "I am very interested in early American art; portrait paintings and especially young girls’ embroidery samples. The samplers, from the mid to late 1800’s, show off technique mastery in the form of alphabets, simple imagery.

Children’s Art Wall
This north-facing interior wall in the Children’s Area is dedicated to displaying a "rotating gallery" of artwork by students in the community.

 Plants & Flowers

• Yellow day lilies
• Alba Meidland shrub roses
• Dwarf bush honeysuckle
• Japanese white spirea
• Savin juniper
• Ornamental grasses