La Conner Swinomish Library

The library is located on a prominent corner of the main street in the small town of La Conner, WA. The site lies within a local historic district and a FEMA flood plain, which requires that the main floor level be elevated four feet above grade. To develop an authentic response to historic district design guidelines, BuildingWork studied the town’s history and conducted a photographic survey of its stock of historic buildings. This research identified local building patterns that were reinterpreted in the design of the new library to create a contemporary civic building with sensitivity to its historical context. The design uses cross laminated timber panels for nearly the entire building structure, which allowed the walls and roof to be erected in just four days. Manufactured in Washington State using locally sourced Douglas fir, the CLT panels are fully exposed inside the library, creating a warm and inviting interior environment that connects patrons to the nearby forests and references traditional Coast Salish architecture. At the exterior, the design uses painted wood siding; both a 1x12 reverse board and batten in a vertical orientation, and a 1x6 cedar drop siding profile in a horizontal orientation with mitered corners. The wood siding perfectly aligns with the window openings and wall edge conditions, with no notched pieces or misalignments.

The project utilizes CLT for almost the entire building structure, demonstrating that mass timber can be effective even for small, public-funded projects that are constrained by limited budget and low-bid project delivery.


Occupants have commented on how warm and light it feels to be in the space. The building floor was raised four feet above the ground because of a flood plane. This, and the voluminous interior wrapped in exposed CLT, results in generous vertical space and ample daylight.