Global Project I 3r GDIS ELISAVA, A1 Elisabet Lopez, Anna Ortiga, Anna Talon, Na誰ma Underwood
SPACE 1.1 WHAT 1.2 WHERE 1.3 WHO 1.4 HOW 1.5 DEVELOPEMENT 1.6 LIGHTS SCHEME 1.7 FLOW CHARTS 1.8 DETAILS ANNEX. PLANS
GRAPHIC 2.1 LOGO 2.2 APPLICATIONS 2.2.1 Wood 2.2.2 Web 2.2.3 Cups 2.2.4 Bag 2.2.5 Staff t-shirts 2.3 SIGNAGE 2.3.1 Map 2.3.2 Bar 2.3.3 Signals
SPACE
1.1 what
Llibre lliure is a library with the purpose to encourage the reading and the sharing of this experience through the space and the exchange of books. To create a warm and close atmosphere, one to be welcoming during all the year seasons and addressed to an all-aged target, we orientated the project in a more natural direction, as much as shape as in materials. The intention of the space is to create an appropriate place to read, detaching from the modern idea that we have of the libraries in general. Llibre lliure wants to escape from the preconceived idea of the library as a place to study, in some way uncomfortable to read, where the silence is fomented and sharing the space through the talking or other ways of contact are condemn. With the idea to get away from the conventional library, cooler and formal, we looked for spaces that inspired more calm and quite, and we came to a natural space, green, away from the more busy urban center. Once we decide the place and with the idea that the space must share the same sensations as the exterior where it’s placed does, we designed an space representing an aspect of this same nature.
To accomplish that we has conceive an structure with a nucleus where are situated most of the shelves and books, leaving an open and free space around of it filled with all kind of armchairs, seats and sofas. This nuclear structure allow to create a wide and free-of-walls space, thanks to the columns in the exterior zone that join in the nucleus and provide the space to be formed mostly by glass. The vision the glasses allow of the exterior increase the welcoming sensation and connects the space with the surrounded nature. That’s how we get to the irregular design of the first idea, which came from an hexagon with heterogeneous sides and which evaluated until an structure of eight sides, all irregulars. The exterior form is identical to the central nucleus form, creating the illusion —thanks to the columns and rafters— that the space is an enormous protector tree. The roof, as the exterior walls, is made of glass with some color breaks (as the Gaudí art) that tries to simulate the leafs of the trees through which the sunlight strains. The general structure is a geometrication of the organic forms that are produced naturally in nature and its principal materials are wood and glass.
1.2 where
The place where our space would be is located in a crowd zone of Barcelona, although it’s not situated in the center of the city. The place, known as Jardins de Pedralbes or Palau Reial, is an oasis inside the urban bustle of the city. The park is divided in difference zones separated with the path that guides the way inside the park. The library would be located in the first zone to the left once entering the park, in a small field surrounded by trees and grass. It has easy access because it’s located in the University zone of Barcelona and there is subway, bus and biking near the entrance.
1.3 who
The target of the space encompass a big strip of age, since we believe a library must be aimed to everybody, regardless of their age, their preferences or their character, provided that they enjoy reading. So the target of the library are those people who enjoy reading and the fact of sharing it, either through discussing or exchanging books in the library. The idea of Llibre lliure comes from a concept that first appeared a decade ago in the United States and it consists in a small wooden box located in a neighborhood in which you can find books that everybody can let or take. In the last years it has become a common idea in the european cities, as Berlin or Viena, and that foments the communion and the sharing between citizens and strangers. After a brief analysis of the spanish society, we found that those characteristics are not so common or settled as it is in the other cities of the continent and we believe that having an space that’s ruled basically with an altruistic exchange of a property can improve that.
1.4 how Our first ideas were to build an space out of the common structurally speaking, beyond the concept of a library inside an anonymous building in the middle of the city. To accomplish that we should find a place where we could build and that allowed a different structural shape. From then on we developed the idea of playing with natural light, structures made completely with wood or, in contrast, made completely by glass. As for the textures, as much visuals as tactiles, we have looked for those which can transmit the warmth of the nature, the quite of the sunlight in the middle of the forest. We wanted to bring inside the building the natural textures of the outside environment and for that wood is the principal material used in the building.
1.5 developement
The project has moved forward in a very lineal way in all the development phases. Since the beginning sue had a very clear idea of the space, the specific mission it’d respond and the type of sensations we were looking for. We tried a long list of structural shapes, going from triangles and hexagons to more complex and irregular shapes. We thought also a structure were all the action and the books storage happened in the walls, but this kind of distribution complicated the main action of the space —read— because of the constant flows around the sofas and chairs. To solve this problem we came to the idea of the central nucleus were all the other elements beyond reading would be located —storage, bar, restroom—, leaving an enormous circular space to read.
We had really clear the kind of illumination we were looking for. The natural light and the organic environment where it’s located were fundamental to foment the more welcoming feeling that we think someone need to enjoy reading. With this idea we decided that most of the walls and roof must be glass, although at the beginning some of the walls should be of wood or another material because we needed to accommodate the bar and the restrooms. In this idea, where we had not the nucleus shelves, we thought of putting the books inside the columns that sustains the space.
1.7 light artificial light
natural light
1.8 flow chart
more used rutes
less used rutes
1.9 internal parts
The nucleus of the space is internally divided in three parts, not counting the access hallway. This three parts are the nucleus is the restroom. The detail of this zone we would like to emphasise is the rain collector located on top of the translucent glass (the roof). This element benefit the building because reduce the expense of running water in the bathroom —it is, actually, the zone of the building where will be more expense in this mater—, and, at the same time, it shows the ecofriendly concept that’s all around the project. This environmentally friendly idea it’s shown not only with the recycling of the rain water but also in the main mission of the place: to re-use and share elements as common as book and other indispensable elements of a construction of this characteristics —the large use of natural light instead of the artificial light is an another example of it.
Rain collector
The second zone is the internal zone of the bar, where we can find the refrigerators, the food storage and the cooking zones. The users are not allowed to get inside this zone, because it’s destined only for the library workers.
The third zone inside the nucleus is the storage room, principally destined to the exterior furniture, the replacement hand stairs and the cleaning elements. It can be also used in case that there is an excess of material —for example, more books that the shelves can contain, the same book repited too many times, etc.
1.9 bar mesures
As one of the more differential aspects of the space, it is important to show in more detail the zone of the bar. Because it’s the only piece of the nucleus that’s different in shape —although not in size, since it base is the shape of the shelves of the other walls—, and at the same time it is the only part that’s thought to accommodate people —the workers inside the bar and the customers outside— we thought important to show it actual
size. In spite of the sign of the cafeteria that hangs from the top of the wall that we have not included, it is possible to see the proportions of the hole through which the bartender will speak and attend the customers and the space in where are going to be situated the stools in the bar.
GRAPHIC
2.1 logo The graphic part of this project has been more difficult to develop. Although we knew the concept of the space, it was difficult for us to take it to the logo form and find a solution for it. After working in different ways and trying a big number of designs we chose a logo made only by the naming itself, without an image. The reason we ended up with that solution is simple: we wanted our library to be different in all the aspects, and after a long research on library’s logos we found that, in each case, the symbol of them was a book or a similar element and we didn’t want to be remembered as one of them.
2.1.1 developement
As we already commented before, find the final logo has been difficult because we had a lot of ideas with a similar concept that didn’t work too well, not as a symbol nor as name and typography. We started with a simple name, La Biblioteca (The Library), which for us represented the special character of the place thanks to the use of the La, turning the place in something more than just another library in the city. However, it is true that the meaning of the name it’s lost when it’s used in a full sentence, because the article lose its strength. Besides, this name limited too much the type of symbol that we could design in the future. From this point we started to investigate more the initial idea we had of the shared books in a selfless way. Worldwide, this sharing is commonly known as “Little Free Library” or “Free Library” and we decided to adopt it. We started with ideas as “Free Book” and “Open Book” because we wanted the logo to be focused in the object that give meaning to the place and not the place
itself. However, and even if this names made reference to the original idea of the project, they didn’t end working as well as we thought, not in the language level nor in the symbol one —the book as a symbol reminded present. At being located in Barcelona in where the official language is catalan, we looked a name that adjust to its situation and we gave with the final name of the project, LLIBRE LLIURE. Although having the name, however, we became with some difficulties to give it a meaning, because the similarities of the words created confusion and some difficulties to read it. We played with the shape of the naming to turn it in a symbol; we also introduced a word inside the other or changed the shape of the letters to give them the aspect of books in a shelf, adding some extra typographic elements to frame the symbol.
free
library
2.1.2 final logo
R129 G131 B134 C0 M0 Y0 K50
R 136 G 176 B 40 C 47 M 8 Y 98 K 0
ABC Bebas Neue
The game with the two words that conforms the logo, LLIBRE LLIURE, are almost identical excluding the B and the U and that allowed us to create a logo balanced and readable in two different ways. The straight and symmetric shape of the typography we have used —a sans serif font— named Gotham (the Regular edition), can be read too as the shape of the books situated in the shelves. As a whole, the logo is an element very simple but very visual and convincing at the same time.
As for the colors, the logo is formatted by two of them, separating one word in two parts —that allows the game of the two ways to read it—. We chose the green as a principal color because is the color of nature and connects the space with it environment; the black inspires security and elegance and balance the logo as a whole. In the black and white version, the green color turns in a light grey, keeping the reading game of the logo.
2.2 applications As for the applications, we have designed them in a more physical aspect and more close to the user, although we have designed a web page and its mobile application to introduce the library into a more modern ambit. Most of the applications, however, are destined to the cafeteria zone, that we consider the place with more elements to design in a graphic level —the other zones are thought for a simple and unique use, and the others just to read and need of no other complements. For it we designed as ceramics cups to cardboard cups, to please both users. We also designed the t-shirt of the staff and a set of bags, one of paper for the drinks and food, and another of fabric to carry the books. We have designed too the LLI points card, unique for each user of the bar and the library.
Aside of that zone we designed the visit cards of the library, with the logo cut and etched in wood altogether with the address of the place, as two difference bookmarks, also in wood. As for the web, we have approached it with the purpose of give information to the new user and give a point of support to the habituals ones. The web is divided in five pages. From the index page we can reach to the explanation of the place, where is located and how to get in there, the news and requests of the users —similar to a blog updated regularly with the books request of each consumer of the library— and, finally, the LLI points, the interchangeable element inside the library. In the LLI point page each user can introduce their card number and know instantly how many LLI points they have.
2.3 signage The graphic design of the interior has been structured in three parts: the signage of the place to guide the users —directional and situation signs for the restroom, the exits and cafeteria, as a map of the place—; the division of the space with the narrative sections of each shelf; and the graphic of the cafeteria.
To unify all this signs we have used three common elements: the dark chocolate support wood; the green and white colors that relate the graphic with the logo; and the traces that simulate the hand drawing in the illustrations and the lineal divisions in the different signs.
There are two levels in the signage of the space. The signs with the purpose of guide the user through the library (the bar sign, exists and entrances signs and restroom); and the signade used to separate the different narrative sections that compose the nucleus of the space. The base wood have a different size in each level. For the bar, the restroom and the exists and entrance has a square shape, visual and can be sticked to the wall in its plane or with just a side of it —this option help the reading of the sign when it’s located in an angle place, like the bar—. We have used the same typography that can be found all around the space, sans serif and in white. It contrasts highly with the thin a soft illustration that go with each sign. This design helps to attract the visual attention and focus it in the meaning of the sign. To the literary sections we have followed a similar logic. Because the shelves have a long height it’s important to make easier the lecture of each section. To accomplish that we have thought of rectangular signs where the text is the most important element, although the illustrations are still present —this illustrations relate the signs with the map of the space, explained in the following pages. This signs me sure 45cm. As with the other signage of the place, the text and the image are in white above dark wood.
Fantasy
Crime
Sci-fi
Children
Theater
Restroom
Cafeteria
The design of the map is very simple to balance the complexity of the space and, at the same time, to make easier to recognize the sections, the exits and the other important elements. In the reality, the panel is 60x60 cm and 1,5cm of thickness. It’s located next to the small hallway that leads to the restrooms and that it’s located just in front of the main entrance. The principal colors we have used are different tones of green, white and dark brown. As a whole the map is very pictographic and simple, with only eight differential elements: the five narrative sections, the restroom, the cafeteria and the entrances/exits. For the design of the pictograms we have chose a different element for each section and we have illustrated it in a lineal form with a trace that looks like a charcoal draw. To simulate the real wood used in each section the pictograms are above of a dark brown square. The draw is white to make it easier to read and recognize. The different types if pictograms we can find are: a mermaid for the fantasy section, a hat and a pipe for the crime section, an ovni for the sic-fi section, the Little Prince for the children section and the two dramaturge faces that represents theater of its section. For the restroom we have used two silhouettes representatives of the classic literature: a victorian character of Jane Austen and Oliver Twist. The symbol of the cafeteria, however, is not related with any narrative element because we wanted to avoid confessions in its meaning.
The informative sign of what the customers can get in the cafeteria it’s been designed following a lineal structure that allows it’s reading from some distance. The signs is divided in three parts, two of them have the information about the food and drinks the user can find in the bar and it prices; and the second one, located between the other two and more thin, has the information about the LLI points. The sign has three typographic hierarchy. The biggest is the one used in the titles of the four sections of food the bar can offer, in capital letters and green, underlined with an organic trace. In second place we find the four lists inside each section, written in lower case let-
ters, white color and a small green and white book as a dot at the start of each option. The prices are in the same letter, but the number is in white and thin weight while the coin (LLI) is in green, capital letters and bold. As an added to the cafeteria zone, we have placed the sentence “les paraules són vida” (words are life) taken from “The book thief ”. This sentence in reality would be a vinyl located on top of the cafeteria, above the hole of the bar. This graphic addition give to the wall some extra characteristic, making it more differential because of its lack of shelf.
conclusions The biggest conclusion we can get of this project is the final realization of a functional and interesting, able to communicate all the sensations related with the concept, depends as much to the spatial design as to the graphic of the space. Both aspects must be worked, individually and together to reach a project not only acceptable but well solved in all its extent. We believe our project has answered well to all the problems we have faced during it development and, although its just an initial approximation of a real project,
we are glad with the results we’ve obtained. We have found some difficulties in our expertise —graphic design— that we have solved and, at the same time, we have been able to develop an spacial project when it’s not in our branch. Llibre Lliure is a library created with a lot of work behind, designed to solve frequent problems we find in common libraries, and it’s been ideated to be a differential element inside the city, with all of its characteristics and soul.