Installed 2024 – 2 of 100

280 Garfield St
Woodburn, Oregon 97071
503-982-5262
Library Director: Mike Jansen
Email: mike.jansen@ci.woodburn.or.us or reference@ci.woodburn.or.us

Notice how the time of day and seasons effect the rainbow beams as they glide thru the building, changing shape, color and position.

Ideal Viewing Times And Seasons

Times of Day: 10am-3pm
Seasons: All Year

Technical Details

Building Orientation: 
South facing

Solar Access: 
Two story, entry lobby windows
Locations and # of prisms installed: 
3 prisms in lobby windows

Some notes on how I made it

Johanna and I arrived about 20 minutes before closing time at Woodburn library on February 8, 2024. We asked to meet the librarian and the guy we now affectionately call “Smiley Mike” came out with a huge grin and told us he was interested in the idea of our project. (Mike Jansen also gave, what a lot of people think is, the most powerful interview in the 15 minute 100 libraries film.) Because they were closing in 20 minutes, I dashed around the library and discovered a beautiful, Mexican style atrium with a tiny rock garden right in the center of the library. I’ve included a video and a sketch (below) that I made, where I designed this installation right on the spot in about my first 10 minutes. I immediately saw that flat, laser-cut strips of prism applied high on the atrium windows would create an ideal installation – spectrum from dawn to sunset, all year long, with just a few random tree shadows here and there. 

The architecture has ideal solar access for my Libraries project. The glassed-in central atrium gets sun all day and all year. It’s kind of like a walk-in skylight. And from the upstairs stacks, you can see the iconic Woodburn city water tower, a landmark in this Hispanic, almost old world town. Mike told us that there’s even some bathrooms with showers built into the building that were designed for use in case of an earthquake. 

We also discovered the sprawling children’s area with its 40 foot row of southeast facing windows, graciously looking out to the kids playground in lovely “Library Park.” It offers a flood of grass, stately shade trees, picnic tables, and even a little amphitheater. More proof of Oregon’s Superior Library Designs. 

Later in July, Andrew Raush, Johanna and I installed prisms on the Children’s Area glass as well. We did it on cloudy days and I have still not yet experienced those spectra. But, with Woodburn just an hour away, it beats my 1999 installation in cloudy Ireland, I haven’t seen that one yet either. Every 100 Library sites are loaded with reasons for a return visit! 

By chance, Mike has a lift in the building, so we used that to install it in July. It was a bit rickety, and the battery kept almost dying, which, late in the day, almost prevented me from getting it high enough to install the top of the glass. 

I do love Woodburn’s Latin American culture and I hear the Arco Iris is much appreciated.