To the local community, the Chrisney Branch Library needed to serve as an education tool. The building itself was as a tactile demonstration of how a high-performance green building and renewable energy could be realized on a tight budget in a community with limited resources. In addition, the facility needed to elevate the human condition by being beautiful, accessible and inspirational. The Town of Chrisney engaged Indianapolis-based Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf and Biagi, Chance, Cummins, London, Titzer, Inc., from Evansville, Indiana, to design a net-zero energy building response within the project’s tight budgetary constraints. The project opened to the public in April 2009, and in addition to net-zero energy performance, the project proved to be very cost-effective.