Daybreak Library • South Jordan, Utah

Owner/Client: Salt Lake County

AOR: Architectural Nexus • Kenner Kingston, PIC

Size: 26,000 SF + 13,000 SF intensive green roof

Estimated Value: $12 million

Services: Architecture, Sustainable Design

Completion Year: 2022

Certifications: LEED Gold v4, ILFI Zero Energy

As the first public building in Daybreak’s new Town Center, this branch library is nestled among key biking and pedestrian routes to nearby Oquirrh Lake, as well as a light rail stop that connects this progressive New Urbanist community with the greater Salt Lake Valley. The building’s design celebrates its connection to the surrounding public realm, offering residents and visitors abundant outdoor gathering spaces—including a streetside plaza, an outdoor amphitheater, and an intensive rooftop garden and patio with views of the Oquirrh Mountains and the Wasatch Front.

Inside, the library is much more than a repository for books. Gathering spaces for children and teens frame the Create Lab, a maker space for both creative and practical activities, alongside an interior courtyard designed for educational play. Adult patrons are welcomed with a range of learning-focused spaces: quiet reading areas, conference rooms, technology for business support, and a multipurpose community room with operable walls that open onto the adjacent interior and exterior plazas. Daylight and fresh air are integral to the experience, delivered through overhead tube skylights, operable glazing systems, and orientation-appropriate fixed shading.

Even passing cyclists are supported with access to a free, full-service bike repair station along the building’s edge. All of this is powered by on-site solar energy: a 95kW rooftop array that also provides shade to an upper-level seating and activity area integrated into the roof garden.