Daniel LaRossa is an Associate Principal at Group 4 with deep experience leading library projects, including the recent transformation of the Cincinnati Main Library.  Below are Daniel’s reflections after travelling to Aarhus for NEXT Library 2025. 

I recently traveled to Aarhus, Denmark to attend NEXT Library 2025, where I co-led a conference with Director Paula Brehm-Heeger of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL): Libraries as Incubators for Democracy. The session drew out conversations on how librarians and architects alike can model positive civic engagement and empower communities to confront disinformation and division through design and programming, while utilizing a custom Cards Against Humanity deck, Libraries for Humanity, to spur discussion.

Before arriving in Aarhus, my library design journey launched in Dublin with visits to iconic libraries including the breathtaking Long Room at Trinity College as well as Marsh’s Library, replete with 18th-century rare book cages. In contrast, the ramps of Aarhus’s Dokk1 Library bustled with children shedding shoes and zipping through the middle of conference sessions on balance bikes, embodying the playfully collaborative energy of NEXT.

Our NEXT session drew an international crowd curious about the variability of U.S. library funding, the realities of book challenges, and the impact of heated political rhetoric around public spaces. Attendees from Finland, the U.K., and the U.S. enthusiastically participated in the story of CHPL’s Main Library reinvention, raising thought-provoking questions about the practice of librarianship in our current cultural context.

I also had the privilege to tour Aarhus’s local branches, including Åby and Gellerup Biblioteks, where I observed striking differences in space planning. Danish libraries often commingle patrons of all ages, creating dynamic and often purposefully challenging environments supported and mediated by branch librarians. These hub spaces support strong public amenities — ranging from cultural events to social services and even showers — and cement libraries in Denmark as vital civic infrastructure.

From Dublin to the Aarhus suburbs before concluding both inside and outside Dokk 1, my travels offered not just inspiration but real-time insights into how libraries around the globe are designing spaces and services that strengthen democracy and communities from the ground up. While these libraries had stark differences, their common commitments to shared civic space rooted in their distinct  contexts were a critical reminder of the power of public space design to elevate, inspire, and connect people around the world.