Little Italy Library by Roberto Arroyo

Past
Little Italy Cultural Library (LICL) is a green eco-friendly building that embodies changing aspects from around the world, showing the world of others to a community that has been isolated and unchanging.

Present
However, Little Italy’s demographics have now been changing rapidly since the creation of the highways around it. LICL’s main purpose is to honor all of the nations that make up the world. The neighborhood shows evolution as a community beginning with the immigrants that founded the neighborhood, to the young students who live there now, and morphing into an innovative micro-society of Chicago.

Future
LICL embodies a hybrid structure where people can interact in constructive activities, interaction to learn about diversity, and it can also be that historic library everybody thinks about. LICL is made of solar glass so sunlight can be converted into useable energy that will provide natural light and heat to the building on a consistent basis. Moreover, solar panels are added in the rooftop garden to reduce the overall carbon footprint. Overall, LICL is a super-green building.