The Story Plaza is the next step in a many-years long initiative “to help build community capacity and community pride in Albuquerque’s International District through arts engagement, community-based design, and the development of a community plaza/story garden.” The City of Albuquerque partnered with community groups to generate ideas and opportunities for the site that includes the Story Plaza, a new 25,000 square foot library, and a storm water detention basin.

The plaza includes an amphitheater for small group gatherings surrounded by a resilient play surface to engage kids. Stormwater is celebrated during rain events as it spills through a giant hole in the library roof into a catchment system that pumps the water and releases it into a “river bed” made from recycled sidewalks. Visitors can relax in hammocks or at tables in the outdoor reading room, equipped with a Free Library and a Free Pantry. Large shade structures bring patterned shadow play to the site. Interactive art walls flank the reading room on one side.