London-based David Adjaye has been selected to design two branch libraries in Washington D.C, the US capital. The new facilities will replace the 1959 Washington Highlands Library in the Southwest and the 1961 Francis A. Gregory Library in the Southeast. Adjaye, whose work includes the new Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado and the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway was selected through a competitive process involving the library officials and the neighborhood. It was Adjaye’s “Idea Stores” that helped him clinch the job and rise to the top of the list, which included 17 contenders.

"In the library world we paid attention to them", said Ginnie Cooper, Chief Librarian, of Adjaye’s Idea Stores. “They are in what I would describe as rough neighborhoods”. Adjaye will partner with DC-based Wiencek + Associates on the libraries which are expected to cost $9.5 million each.