British architect Norman Foster has been selected for a major renovation of the New York Public Library, reports the New York Times.

Foster and his London firm, Foster & Partners, have been commissioned to create a new circulation library in a space below the library’s Rose Reading Room and overlooking Bryant Park. The renovated area, which currently houses seven stacks and a basement, will include rooms for children and teenagers with numerous computer work stations. In turn, the stacks will move to a three-acre storage area under Bryant Park, which is also to be renovated.

It’s the greatest project ever,” said Foster.

The architect and his firm were chosen from among 30-some candidates, many known for more traditional fare. Foster has specialized in transforming historic buildings into sleekly modern architecture, and his “knockout proposal” convinced the trustees to commission a piece reflecting his contemporary aesthetic, according to Paul LeClerc, president of the library.

“This is now 2008, and when this happens, the library building will be 100 years old,” said Catherine Marron, the library’s chairwoman. “One has to embrace one’s time.”

LeClerc expects Foster to create a "second masterpiece" worthy of the work done by the original architects, Carrère & Hastings, in 1911. His past resume of acclaimed work includes the Reichstag in Berlin (1999), the British Museum in London (2000), the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington (2007), and another New York landmark, the 2006 Hearst Tower project on Eighth Avenue at 57th Street.

Because of the library's landmark status, its exterior, including its strip windows, will not be altered. “It will be a building within a building,” Marshall Rose, the library’s chairman emeritus, said. “We’re not going to encroach on the landmark quality.”

Fundraising for the renovation, which is expected to cost $250 million, will be an enormous challenge, admits library officials. Work is still expected to be completed by 2013, but to accommodate the current economic downturn and major city budget cuts, the project will proceed with a mutable schedule that allows for adjustments to be made in accordance with the fluctuating economy. The project is part of a larger $1.2 billion plan to update the entire New York public library system. To fund that larger effort, the library plans to raise money from the sale of properties including the Mid-Manhattan branch and the Donnell branch in Midtown, which already sold last year to Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. for $59 million.