Greenpoint Library
🏢 Brooklyn Public Library — Brooklyn, New York
Greenpoint Library
A LEED-designed 2020 library and environmental education center on Norman Avenue, with solar panels, a pollinator roof garden, and windows that track the seasons like a sundial.
🕑 Library Hours
| Monday | 10 AM – 6 PM |
| Tuesday | 1 PM – 8 PM |
| Wednesday | 10 AM – 6 PM |
| Thursday | 10 AM – 8 PM |
| Friday | 10 AM – 6 PM |
| Saturday | 10 AM – 5 PM |
| Sunday | 1 PM – 5 PM |
Hours may vary on holidays.
📍 Location & Contact
Address: 107 Norman Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Phone: (718) 389-4394
Website: bklynlibrary.org
📖 About Greenpoint Library
The Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center opened in October 2020 as a purpose-built replacement for the neighborhood's earlier one-story branch, which was demolished in 2017. Designed by the firm Marble Fairbanks, the two-story building was conceived as both a full-service Brooklyn Public Library branch and a hub for environmental awareness and education, an especially fitting mission for Greenpoint given its industrial history. Sustainable features run throughout: a bioswale of plantings filters rainwater along the exterior, rooftop solar panels help power the building, and a rooftop pollinator garden and gardened reading deck extend the library outdoors. In the children's area, angled 'solar windows' create a sundial effect so that at noon the incoming light aligns with floor markings tied to the seasons, while meeting-room walls are finished in responsibly harvested native ash, walnut, and red oak. Funding came from multiple sources, including a $5 million grant from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund, which manages proceeds from an ExxonMobil oil-spill settlement, plus state education and city capital funds.
⭐ What makes this branch special
- Opened October 2020, designed by Marble Fairbanks as an environmental education center
- Rooftop solar panels, a pollinator garden, and a gardened reading deck
- Children's 'solar windows' create a noon sundial effect marking the seasons
- Funded partly by a $5M Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund grant from an ExxonMobil settlement
📱 Free with a Brooklyn Public Library Card
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❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What makes the Greenpoint Library an 'Environmental Education Center'?
Beyond lending books, the branch is built to teach environmental awareness: it features a rainwater-filtering bioswale, rooftop solar panels, a pollinator garden, and a reading deck, and its programming centers on sustainability and local ecology in a historically industrial part of Brooklyn.
What happened to the old Greenpoint library building?
The previous one-story branch on the Norman Avenue site was demolished in 2017 and replaced by the current two-story Marble Fairbanks–designed building, which opened to the public in October 2020 after delays that included the COVID-19 pandemic.
How do the 'solar windows' in the Greenpoint children's room work?
Angled windows in the children's area are positioned so that at noon the sunlight streaming through them aligns with markings on the floor. The alignment shifts across the year, connecting the light to the changing seasons like a built-in sundial.