The second of Adjaye Associates’ new neighborhood libraries for the District of Columbia, the William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library is characterised by its celebration of views across the neighborhood, and its insertion into the dramatically sloping site topography. The challenge was also to create a civic building within a residential context. Rather than a single monolithic form, the library is a cluster of geometric volumes, both elevated and grounded physically to the site. Using the grounded main volume to host the library central stacks and primary reading, the elevated volumes create a welcoming portico at the entrance that can be used for events and informal gatherings.