New Library Rides Wave of the Future - 12/22/2005

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – In the new West St. Petersburg Community Library, the children’s area teems with colorful fish peering from behind portholes, hanging from a coral reef, and surrounding a computer desk. The teens’ room is a hip retreat that follows the water theme with a surfboard table and a surfboard sign dubbing the space “Oasis.” A bamboo-like divider wall and comfortable built-in seating encourage teens to relax and hang out.

This branded architecture, a trend which has trickled down from the retail industry, is the work of Creative Arts Unlimited, Inc., a design/build firm in Pinellas Park, Fla.

Bruce Merenda, the firm’s design director, collaborated with local teens for input on their space and worked with St. Petersburg College’s in-house interior designer, Vivian DeRussy.

The library is located at 67th Street North and 8th Avenue North on the Gibbs Campus of St. Petersburg College and is a joint venture between the college and Pinellas County.

Creative Arts Unlimited is an award-winning specialty architectural and decorative products company providing custom products to the library, healthcare, museum, retail, and theme park industries. The company has clients throughout the United States. Most of its products are fabricated in its modern thirty-four thousand square foot facility equipped with high-technology woodworking, metal fabrication and acrylic forming machinery.    <back