America ByDESIGN Spotlights Gateway Library in Mesa, Arizona

A regular series on CBS News, America ByDESIGN™ highlights architecture projects across the nation that showcase innovation, originality, and creative expression. Currently airing its seventh season, America ByDESIGN has featured a diverse array of structures throughout its 30-minute episodes, including a school campus, fire station, residential buildings, office spaces, and a luminarium. The Gateway Library in Mesa, Arizona—a Kimley-Horn structural engineering project—is featured in the current season. 

Award-Winning Design for a Community-Focused Library

Designed by Richärd Kennedy Architects to function like an open market, the Gateway Library is a 28,000-square-foot public space with meeting rooms, a young adult lounge, and storytime program areas that capture the concepts of free movement and community. 

Although the library is united under one folded plate roof, the varying roof heights required the Kimley-Horn team to design each section independently, with complex connections supporting the sloping roof over the main hall. The team ultimately leveraged slanted columns and tension rod bracing to create seamless integration between the structural and architectural designs. 

A 2026 winner of the American Library Association and the International Interior Design Association’s Library Interior Design Award – Public Library Category, the Gateway Library is an emblem of architectural magnificence, strategic structural engineering, and community. 

Watch the Full America ByDESIGN Episode Here