Architecture By Lola Osunneye
BRIEF Today’s libraries are underu7lized by the youth of today, o;en seen as environments which are lacking in atmosphere and energy, however libraries can be central to community offering services far beyond simple book loaning and computer suites. Libraries are o;en hosts to a number of facili7es such as reading groups, support teams, exhibi7ons, charity events and much more. • My task is to breathe life into the conven7onal library concept with a focus to engage with the local community and be aFrac7ve to all. • Consider that the space will incorporate a social focus however s7ll fulfil its educa7onal needs. • Include facili7es which will be appealing to my varied user groups I.e. interac7ve exhibi7on space, landscaped reading environment, music pods etc.
SPECIFICATION
Exterior Design My idea is to design a library in a shape of a book/open book because books are the first thing that come to my mind when I think of libraries.
Interior Design Ideas for Library
Since books are made out of paper to extend my idea, paper can be manipulated in many ways to produce a variety of outcomes. This will just be my star7ng point, things may change as to when I do more research into Architects.
A Library’s func7ons are to allow people to come together to read or watch a film in a quiet environment.
I want my library to include a separate room with a big screen which would allow people to watch movies and its also a narrator, so instead of reading, your favourite book can be read to you. Another advantage of having a big screen can be suitable for those who are dyslexic and those who are more of a visual learner. This room can be booked so there isn't any form of commo7on Most libraries don’t allow food being eaten, so I want to include a room where you can study and eat at the same 7me because some people prefer reading this way , I’m trying to include everyone's best interests because youth these days hardly go libraries so its beFer to make it more and more appealing for them to come. There would be another room where it will be completely silent for reading.
So there are choices for people of which way they’ll like to concentrate.
WHAT MAY INFLUENCE A BUILDING?
A building that makes most use of the site. Considering social class
Community
Space & Effiency
Building Permission
This is the first ac7on and without a building consent, architects wouldn't’t be authorized to build.
Planning
INFLUENCES “What do libraries need to become, to cope with the onset of the ‘Kindle’ generaPon” Libraries are usually seen as a boring environment that’s strict when it comes with noise. People it’s a place where they cant be themselves, by listening to music, or ea7ng as they go along and some feel it’s a place they can really concentrate. Kindle is a wireless tablet sold by Amazon which enables users to shop, download, browse, and read books, newspapers, magazines, blogs etc. It’s a single device that contains a range of ac7vi7es all in one. I believe it is a big compe77on to exis7ng libraries as its so easy to use and you can carry it everywhere you go but not everyone can afford these tablets. I think libraries need to become more versa7le by considering everyone's best interests and less strict with rules and regula7ons people would visit them more. I think my idea of including different floors and rooms for different ac7ons would achieve this. Some people also prefer being around peaceful people reading as it mo7vates them while with kindle you wouldn't’t always be in an area that’s quiet but a library will guarantee that.
Economical Influence & Area Regenera7on Economical Regenera7on
This is a redevelopment an area or areas of which have suffered immensely and geWng the Nature & Environment permission to refurbish the place and make it anew.
Architects have to consider suitable materials used to create a building that can withstand obstacles to a certain extent. Also consider the environment, if the building will work with its surroundings.
Grays Library, OrseS Road, Grays Essex , RM17 5DX LOCATION I will be designing a library that is going to be set in a town called Grays in Essex . Grays has good road links, being close to the A13 road and the M25 motorway. London Road is the main road which links Grays town centre with Lakeside Shopping Centre and Purfleet. Grays already has an exis7ng library which is surrounded by salons, food shops, and its town centre which includes clothes shops, its like a local mall. Grays offers a Thurrock Museum combined with a library with extensive galleries on the archaeology, social and industrial heritage of the area, including items on the River Thames and organizes walking tours of the borough in the summer. There's also a Grays Beach Riverside Park with a large play area.
Grays Library, OrseS Road, Grays Essex , RM17 5DX
Its right in the middle so its not hard to miss and it will be easy access
SURROUNDINGS
Grays is next door from Lakeside Shopping Centre, which Retail Park has stores, restaurants, cinema, a leisure bingo complex and a watersports centre at the lake. So if people who come to the library admire a break, lakeside is one bus away, and with the library being situated next to food stores and has its own liFle shopping mall , it can also be appealing to readers. Its suitable/reasonable to have my library in the middle of Grays and close to where a large amount of people come to shop, it will be easy access.
SKETCHES
It was essen7al that I purchased a sketchbook to include another form of research to my work. These are drawings from objects and pictures from magazines. The top image was drawn with pencil and it was a piece of metal, the shape forms like an arm and I thought it was quite an interes7ng shape. The boFom image was drawn with a biro pen taken from an image in a magazine, I picked that image to draw as it resembled what I was basing my exterior on which is book shapes, to me it looks like an open book shape and then curvy forms spread at the top.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
To begin the project, I went on a trip to the Victoria and Albert museum in search of interes7ng shapes that may or may not influence my work. I was given liFle wooden silhoueFes to use to take pictures with the objects and its purpose is to give the images more perspec7ve. The pictures on the le; display the objects in an Architecture sec7on in the Museum which included very detailed floor plans and structures with liFle aspects in them that made them very interes7ng to look at.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
This was a wooden structure at the museum that was fascina7ng . I admire the way it curves in and the shapes it forms. I picked an area to draw and produced it in fineliner pen. The wooden form can also be related to libraries as it can be used to read on or a form of shelf for books.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
More Drawings and pictures from the museum
BOOK RESEARCH I was researching into open book shapes to infuence my work and these are the images I came across. These pictures display the way books/paper can be manipulated to make a different form.
MODEL MAKING
This model was made by manipula7ng paper, I didnt have an idea in the beginning it more or less formed on its own and created a futuris7c structure and a pleasing outcome.
MODEL MAKING
MODEL MAKING
This was my first aFempt in crea7ng an exterior as an open book shape. I got two seperate pieces of paper and cut strips from one side and the folded each one to the middle repeatedly. When they were done I put the two sheets besides eachother to make it look more like a book.
These are more images of my model, I was pleased with the outcome and also the way it was photographed really brought out the colour and form.
REFINEMENT
This was my improvement model which was created by puWng together the previous model and aFaching a white paper with strips around it. This 7me it wasn’t two sepearte pieces but one altogether, looking more and more like a book shape. The photos show more of its inside view.
Miyakonojo Civic Center in Miyakonojo, 1966 This is a structure created by an Japanese architect called Kiyonori Kikutake. Its a fan-‐shaped building, with radial steel frames. I choose to look at this architects work as i wanted to make an exterior in a shape of an open book, even though this structure is fan-‐shaped it also looks like an open book. It’s an asymmetrical building and from any perspec7ve it is fascina7ng to look at.
Law Library of the University This library is posi7oned in Zurich, Switzerland. Its walls are ellip7cal shaped which allows it to look more interes7ng especially with the way its put together and spaced out. I found interest in this structure as it had a liFle rela7on to the idea of an open book.
Model Making
MODEL MAKING This model was made using card. The drawing of my design which was a c shape was drawn onto 2d design and then finely cut by the laser cuFer. The idea came from the open book shape and also the architects I look at. The structure reminds me of this Chocolate as it spreads out like its been sliced. It also has rela7ons to an open book figure
I was pleased with the outcome as the use of material worked well and the thought of using a laser cuFer made the shapes smooth and neat . The shape may be very basic but by it being repeated formed a unusual shape.
This is where the inspira7on was taken from, the Library resembles a sliced fruit, and these strips would be different sec7ons of where people can do their reading, its very spaced out , the open curves would be see through so it allows natural ligh7ng and a comfortable temperature and view for the people in the Library. Law Library
Drawings from model using pencil and biro pen.
ELEVATION DRAWING
RESEARCH – EXISTING LIBRRARIES
Royal Library of Denmark
This library is very much aFrac7ve, the view is beau7ful which would allow people who visit the library to have a comfor7ng environment and the blue water creates a relaxing scene, also there's beauty of the contrast of the dark blue building and the lighter shade water. Its clear The Architect has really thought about what will be appealing for its target audience.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Library The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a major library located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyp7an city of Alexandria. There was a library on its land before it but this was a re-‐invented one and more modern. The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 70,000 m. The complex also houses a conference centre; specialized libraries for the blind, for young people, and for children; three museums; four art galleries; a planetarium; and a manuscript restora7on laboratory. The walls are of grey Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 different human scripts. The building is like a shoo7ng up buFon, as if you want to press it down.
Vancouver Public Library This library is one of the largest in Canada, it was created by an Architect called George Grant. The library is centred on the block, street view so there is easy access. Its a nine-‐story rectangular box containing book stacks and services, surrounded by a free-‐standing, oval rounded wall including reading and study areas. The library's interior glass front overlooks an enclosed open space formed by another rounded wall that defines the east side of the site. Spaces surrounding the library form a con7nuous forum with parking located below grade. The building's exterior resembles the Colosseum but more futuris7c. The building also includes a retail, day-‐care and parking.
Only difference is the colosseum’s paFerned shape is more of a stretched protracted shape .
ExperimenPng Â
EXPERIMENTING
A;er my research into the Vancouver library and the Colosseum , their similar forms reminded me of my hair rollers so I decided to photograph them.. The rollers are also square paFerned all around so I took pictures of them in different ways to see a diverse numbers of outcomes. The whole point is to give me more ideas of how I could use one squared shape to create an en7rely different model just be playing around with it and this is the inspira7on that will be used to create my final model.
FINAL MODEL
Vancouver Library
The model was created using card paper which was placed in a laser cuFer and I drew out two squares and then small squares in between on the pc which the laser cuFer picked up and produced 6 shapes.
At first I wasn’t sure on how I was going to put together these plain looking squares without it looking too simple. In the end, referring back to the Architects work, the model formed to create an interes7ng structure by bending the card and then glued it together. The shape of my structure could also be seen as a book if I was to get two books, have them standing up facing it each other and then have the pages spread to make something as similar as this.
The Vancouver Library’s futuris7c structure was the inspira7on for my model. I didn’t want an outcome that was exactly the same as the Vancouver Library but aFempt to make it my own and adding slight aspects from it. Inspira7on was also taken from the hair rollers I photographed, and its visible how they relate, I think both were a good source to work from and I reached my aim of crea7ng a library that is somewhat different but appealing to look at.
These are similar forms to my model and this is what it reminded me of . They all have the same paFern and the alikeness is so clear.
A close up into the structure from an angle makes it look more realis7c. You can see the idea of space which is suitable as I wouldn’t want my target audience to feel cramped but allow availability to freedom.
FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR
THIRD FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
Social area ENTRANCE
area Ea7ng
Cafe
Reading Area
Computer area Screening room
Stairs / Escalator Recep7on
Book shelves
Book/film Store
The ground floor will include a cafe serving breakfast and lunch, there will also be a store where people can buy books. The people who come into the library would be ale to get something to eat before, during and a;er their study and the ground floor will be an ea7ng area only
Door The second floor will be a computer area in which people can use the internet, there is also sec7on in which people can read also and use the internet at the same 7me.
Biro pen drawings
The third floor is a quiet area and strictly reading. It includes a room in which will have a screen and narrator for those who prefer to have an audio and viewing study, this will be great for those who have a photographic memory.
ELEVATION DRAWING
EVALUATION
EVALUATION Overall, this project was a success due to a brilliant final piece. I think the outcome was great and I was very pleased with it, mainly because it was interes7ng that a simple square shape could create such a unique form, I also love the zig-‐zag walls in-‐between. I enjoyed working on this project because my career choice is architecture so it was useful for me, I also study Interior design so I had more of an advantage than everyone else, it was fun to include this form of working in my Art and design subject which is usually more fine art based. I believe my model making at first was slightly out of place using odd colours like pink but I can say that my model making progressed as the project went on and it was good to see that improvement. My final model displays all its desired func7ons which is different floors for different things and I'm certain that this library would change youths ideas of a library being a boring place for reading, but admire the beauty of architecture and the facili7es it brings. I was able to include everything I stated which is a room where you can study and eat at the same 7me, including everyone's best interests, a quiet sec7on for reading and a screening area, available for dyslexic people and those who prefer narrated books. If I had the opportunity to work on it again , I would explore more on book shapes and produce more experimenta7on work.