Wildwood Crest, NJ is a classic Jersey Shore beach town best known for its strong history of Doo-Wop architecture. Wildwood Crest is actively trying to maintain their historic “space-age” style and challenged the design team to bring this team to the renovation of an existing single-story Masonic Lodge Building into a new Public Library.
The new library now serves as a place for the community to gather. It includes a children’s library an adult library, as well as a community space with a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes, a large conference room for continuous learning, and community events. The library is home to offices for the local Cape May County Library system staff, a space for a café, and an outdoor reading deck on the green roof.
As a beach town, Wildwood Crest sees a lot of ebb and flow with the population, however, there is a small group who live in Wildwood Crest year-round. For the year-round residents, this building is particularly important as it is a place for them to connect through out the winter. The year-round population is also focused on the preservation of their town’s history and of the environment. With these needs in mind, AKF provided the renovation and new addition with all new MEP systems. AKF worked closely with the architect on the design of a solar chimney wall system to help naturally heat the building in the winter. The building also includes radiant floors on the first floor, low energy lighting systems – saving 30% energy, and low flow plumbing fixtures.
