Donora library expansion, renovation plans unveiled

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
The board of Donora Public Library, during a special open house Wednesday, showed off their plans for an expansion of the Meldon Avenue-based library.
The board showed blueprint drawings and a 3-D video display, created by Ken Kulak of Kulak-George Architects of Monongahela, of what the proposed expansion would look like. Those renderings also included detailed plans of what amenities the library will feature once its new expansion is built.
Director Mark Bizzell Boyer said the expansion “would double the space we are currently working with.”
The 80-foot by 40-foot two story addition would be about 9,800 square feet, and would be added onto the left side of the existing building.
Bizzell Boyer said the library will have a new main entrance and lobby area once the addition is completed. He said guests walking through the threshold will pass under a giant steel sculpture that is designed to look like a steel mill’s blast furnace.
“Donora is known for the smog that used to emanate out of the top of the mills and go up into the sky,” Kulak said. “Now, with this artwork, the metal will symbolize knowledge being produced at the library and being spread into the sky and around Donora.”

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