HCL Facility Master Plan

The Hennepin County Library (HCL) system serves 1.26 million residents across 41 locations and 600 square miles. To guide the next decade of investment, Group 4 led a comprehensive planning process focused on creating inviting, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient libraries that meet current needs and support future growth.

Working with HCL leadership and staff, we integrated new service models and equity metrics into the County’s Capital Framework alongside facility condition data. The resulting Facility Master Plan outlines systemwide improvements over 20 years and clear priorities for implementation in the decade ahead—expanding access and service without significantly increasing operating costs.

Minneapolis Central Library Master Plan

The Minneapolis Central Library Master Plan reimagines an iconic civic landmark as an even more dynamic, inclusive, and future-ready public space. Two decades since this half-million-square-foot library opened, its building systems are aging, public needs are evolving, and the downtown context is changing. In collaboration with local partner LSE Architects, the master plan sets forth a bold roadmap for the next 20 years, aligning critical building system upgrades with a reimagining of how the library can serve its community in new and meaningful ways.

Anchored in extensive community and staff engagement and rigorous technical analysis, the vision centers on four transformative ideas:

• Activating the atrium as a welcoming social hub with comfortable seating, a performance area, new atrium bridges, and highly visible library services.
• Creating more harmony and comfort across diverse user groups, especially by improving acoustics, adjacencies, and spatial zoning.
• Improving accessibility through clearer wayfinding and connectivity.
• Delivering next-generation services, including enhanced youth spaces, expanded social services, more meeting spaces, and a new all-age makerspace.

Phased thoughtfully to support ongoing operations, the master plan ensures that Minneapolis Central Library will continue to evolve as a welcoming, inspiring, and essential civic hub for decades to come.