Library

Guiré Yéro Bocar is a rural commune in Casamance, an agricultural region in the south of Senegal. The new library, designed by croixmariebourdon as part of a community patronage project, is home to 15,000 textbooks and examples of literature collected from French high schools and secondary schools. The current school is arranged around a rectangular courtyard surrounded by classrooms. This courtyard is arranged around multiple focal points: the majestic central mango tree which offers shadow for the school’s social activities, the entrance (reception, food), and the well (access to water). The new construction is also reminiscent of the traditional round Fulani hut and the shadow cast around the trunk of the mango tree.

The Far Rockaway Library in Queens is designed as a collaboration between Snøhetta and Brooklyn-based contemporary artist José Parlá to reflect Far Rockaway’s diversity and dynamism. Serving as a community gathering place and resource for knowledge, the library symbolizes resilience. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy nearly destroyed the surrounding Rockaway community. In the aftermath of the storm, the existing 1968 library building provided disaster relief to residents. It was a lifeline, becoming a meeting point, a food and supply distribution center, and more. The library empowered collective action, and in turn, became a symbol of hope. The design to replace the original library aims to amplify its role in the community even further, serving as a hub for learning and exchange.

The project is located in the Italian-style district of Tianjin, where century-old Italian architectural clusters characterized by red bricks stand. The original site of Tianjin Zhongshuge was a modern building that detached from the surrounding classical context. The reconstruction demands an integrated consideration of architecture and interior design, fitting into the cultural atmosphere of the district. Red bricks, as an important constructive material in Italian classical architecture, have become a necessary design element for this project.

As the last free-flowing river in China without dams, the Nujiang River winds through the folds of the Hengduan~ Mountains in western Yunnan, separating the Gaoligong Mountains and Biluo Snow Mountain to its east and west. The Nujiang Grand Canyon Bookstore of Librairie Avant-Garde is situated atop the Gaoligong Mountains, facing across the river toward the two sacred mountains of the Lisu and Bai ethnic groups.

Beijing 751 Library/ DO UNION. Do Union designed the 751 library that integrates with the industrial remains. The 751-798 Art District is the largest art district in China, and the main venue for Beijing Fashion Week and Design Week. Established in the 1950s with aid from East Germany, it originally housed a massive electronics component factory. The 751 Library is located at the end of 798 Road, the main road within the district, facing the Locomotive Plaza. The original site was a residual ash- washing pool from the factory, with a crane above for transporting coal ash. After 2010, the ash-washing pool and crane ceased operations, and the site was closed off, interrupting the continuous 300-meter-long active commercial interface of 798 Street leading to the Locomotive Plaza.

Initial state. Designed by Fco. Javier Sáenz de Oíza in 1994, the building housed, on its two levels above ground, a commercial space for the sale and exhibition of furniture as well as a residential annex that had a separate entrance and internal staircase; At the semi-basement level it had workshop, warehouse and facilities spaces.

An NGO, Round Table, is envisioned to provide study rooms for the students of Kochargaon Village. According to their survey, the village sorely lacked facilities for reading and learning, which has adversely affected the literacy rate. The chosen site was an old collapsed Aanganwadi that still had an undisturbed, stable plinth. That became our plot. It is located in the vicinity of the village’s main temple complex. The temple has a large covered pavilion (at road level) in front, for all the religious and public events of the community.

The project aims to materialize two paradoxical but coexisting visions of learning practices.