Photo Dan Miller/ DMD Images Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Design Commission President Signe Nielsen presented Queens Library President and CEO Thomas Galante with an award for the new construction of an addition to the East Elmhurst branch of the Queens Library.Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Design Commission President Signe Nielsen announced the 10 outstanding projects that were honored at the Public Design Commission’s 30th Annual Awards for Excellence in Design held on July 24 at the Spruce Street School.  The Design Commission, formerly called the Art Commission, has given awards to exceptional public projects since 1982.  The award winners were selected from the hundreds of submissions reviewed each year and exemplify the highest standards of design, according to Bloomberg.
The new construction of an addition to the East Elmhurst branch of the Queens Library was the only Queens winning entry. According to the Design Commission, the addition to the 1970 library will feature an elegantly detailed aluminum curtain wall system that wraps the façade, and an extensive polycarbonate skylight above the interior courtyard that bathes reading rooms in natural light. On hand for this honor were Queens Library President and CEO Thomas Galante, Chief Executive Officer Peter Magnani AIA and Director of Capital & Facilities Management Richard Tobin.
 “These award-winning projects represent the best of what New York City’s great design leaders can do working together with the public sector,” said Nielsen.
The Design Commission, New York City’s design review agency, was created in 1898 and since then has reviewed permanent works of art, architecture and landscape architecture proposed on or over city-owned property. Projects include new construction, renovation and restoration of buildings, such as museums and libraries; creation and rehabilitation of parks and playgrounds; installation of lighting and other streetscape elements; and design, installation and conservation of artwork. The commission consists of 11 members, who serve without pay, and includes an architect, landscape architect, painter and sculptor as well as representatives of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library.