2013 national competition project | Library Redesign #044

By Design4Tech | L Redesign your school library

Overview
Collect Info
Brainstorm Ideas
Develop Solutions
Final Design

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Design Challenge Background

Libraries are no longer being used as places to store and distribute books, nor do they serve as place for only studying. With changes in technology libraries have been forced to change their ways of operating and instead of closing their doors they are adapting by becoming People-Centric instead of being Book-Centric. They become community resources for collaborating, creating, and making.

Design Challenge Brief

The challenge is to redesign your high school library and re-think how your school’s library should, or could, function as technology advances and our notion of study and working changes accordingly. What does a library look like that is designed around a person’s knowledge needs instead of only storing and cataloging books?

You may redesign the interior of the existing library space, expand on the existing space, or design a completely new addition on to your school building. Your design should contain all the spaces and functions required for a typical school library – a variety of seating options for students (inside and out!), as well as book and media storage, space for the librarian, computer areas, audio/visual labs, and meeting spaces. You may also want to include a cafe, information kiosk, or a workshop area. The redesigned library should include ideas for both old and new ideas for a library. You should also consider sustainability issues and the environmental impact of your design.

To Invent, Design, and Innovate an already established library located on the 5th floor center of Brooklyn Technical High School.

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In the Collect Info step of the design process, you try to gather as much information as possible about your existing school library, along with the students and staff who will use it. You can't propose new solutions until you figure out and document what the existing problems are.

Try This

Walk around the interior of your school building and take photos or a short video of the existing library. You can upload those photos or short videos here. Be sure to write a detailed description for every image. (If your school grants access to YouTube, check out this short video that some students in Chicago made about the design of their school building.)

Think About

How many students need to be seated in the library during one period?
What types of furniture is used in the existing library? Does it need to be movable? Why or why not?

Try This

Interview students, librarians, and other staff about what they think of the existing library. What changes would they make to spaces if they had a choice?
Make a list of those features that you really like about how your library looks and functions.
Make separate list of all the ways that your current library is not so well designed (chairs may be uncomfortable or the light is poor, or there are really great outdoor reading areas).

Try This

Take measurements of the overall dimensions of your existing library.
Take interior photos of the hallways and entrances that lead into your existing library.

Think About

What are the different pathways that students use to get into the library now?
What types of media are available in your library? How are they stored? Are books an important part of your library?

Try This

Visit Flickr or another photo sharing site and search for other types of libraries to determine good and bad examples of how libraries accommodate user’s needs, especially teens.
Post images of buildings, colors, designs, textures, or other things that inspire you in this step. Make sure you give credit to your source!

Think About

Does your new school library need to look like the same typical library with long stack of books? What other study spaces around the world are inspiring and interesting?

Design4Tech's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary

I rediscovered the library I so chosed to ignore for most of my high school years.

This is an image of the center library in manhattan. Not much has changed since the time of its...

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Back Doors of the Library

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Front Doors of the Library

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View of Entrance from Left Front Corner

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Front of Library Looking to the Back

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Back of the Library

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View of Small Room

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In the Brainstorm Ideas step of the design process, you put some early ideas down on paper that show what you've found in the Collect Info step. You also might take more photos to show specific new ideas you have.

The simple diagrams you make here will help you understand how the existing library location and design compare with your new ideas.

Try This

Walk around the exterior of your school building and take photos of possible locations for your new library with outdoor seating.
Draw a floorplan of your existing library and include it in this step.
You may also want to include a site plan of your school, showing where the library fits into the school.

Think About

Will this library replace your school's existing library or become an addition to a different part of the building? Will it be built in an empty lot or space? Will it be underground or built on the roof? You decide.

Try This

Use Google Maps to view and print out an aerial photo of your school.

Think About

Spend some time looking at the aerial photo of your school. What types of other buildings surround your school? Homes, businesses, parks, parking lots, or an empty field? How will these other buildings impact the design of your new library?
What types of streets surround your school? Are they busy or quiet?

Try This

On a piece of tracing paper placed over the aerial photo of your school, sketch a diagram showing a large arc around the building to show the path of the sun throughout the day. This drawing is called a site analysis diagram. (Remember, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.)
Draw other lines on this diagram to indicate the best views around the building.

Think About

Based on the site analysis diagram you've sketched, where is the sun located throughout the school day?
How can the indoor and outdoor seating areas of your new library be positioned to take advantage of the sunlight for good lighting?

Design4Tech's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary

What I decided to do was, incorporate Seating for students, large spaces for book / media storage, Space librarians Computer areas, Audio / visual labs, Meeting spaces, Cafe, Workshop area.

This is a quick bubble diagram of how I wanted the redesigned library to flow like

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I did further research on the type of cafe I would like to be seen in the library. It needed to be...

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I really liked the idea of creating individual personal spaces for the students. I feel that if we...

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I thought this was a great idea to possibly adding another floor to the library, without wasting...

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This is sort of the same tables I would like to use for my visual/ audio labs.

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This is an example of a possible te4acher conference area I wanted to place, somewhere within the...

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Adding on to the idea of a audio/ visual center, I thought that using touch screen laptops would be...

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Design4Tech's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary

In the following Ihave two different types of ideas, that I had developed through Revit. The Major difference between the two, are the styles, the flow of the library.