As always at the beginning of any design process the designer is faced with certain questions, conflicts. Early in this process I am faced with conflict between what gives books, knowledge their power. Is it the engagement, reading, interacting, experiencing and relating to the text, the author and ourselves? Is it the physical book, the fact that words and thesis' are written on the page? Is it the interaction between reader and author? Between author's ideas and readers interaction and interpretation, and in turn between the readers and their audiences? Where does knowledge come from? Is it this tangible entity that we can feel see smell; or is it this idea, this accumulation of thesis, hypothesis, interpretations, and understandings?
In regards to this design, How do I translate these answers into a library, a sanctuary of knowledge, a temple of thought, a church of ideas? How do I express the power of such intangible and tangle things in the form of an architecture? I have come to think that this project (and more honestly the process of designing this architecture) will answer these questions and more. As I move through the design I am directing the design towards showcasing the stacks as a beacon of knowledge, of power. However this “beacon” is engaged and the power of the knowledge within is evoked by planes that penetrate the façade and begin to manipulate and blur the edge of this beacon. The power of the books does not influence the people, the space, unless the books, the space of the stacks, are engaged. Once the knowledge is penetrated the intersecting planes, the reading rooms, allow for the following programs to exist. The support program, offices, auditoriums, and research, happen only as a result of the interaction between book and the engagement. The idea that the space of the stacks regulate the articulation of the reading rooms and support spaces enhances the thesis that knowledge extends to power and with the power of knowledge creates control. On the ground level this concept is strengthen through voids within the surface, sunken gardens and light wells, will manipulate and control the people above. Views down into the space will arouse a sense of the intangible, both idealistic theory and physical spaces, and tempt people to engage the library and approach the spaces sacredly. These views will also create panoptic relationship between the passerby and the underground realm of the library and the same is true looking from below out above. These experiences will embrace the concept of power through knowledge. The library will evoke the power of knowledge and the power of the engagement.
In regards to this design, How do I translate these answers into a library, a sanctuary of knowledge, a temple of thought, a church of ideas? How do I express the power of such intangible and tangle things in the form of an architecture? I have come to think that this project (and more honestly the process of designing this architecture) will answer these questions and more. As I move through the design I am directing the design towards showcasing the stacks as a beacon of knowledge, of power. However this “beacon” is engaged and the power of the knowledge within is evoked by planes that penetrate the façade and begin to manipulate and blur the edge of this beacon. The power of the books does not influence the people, the space, unless the books, the space of the stacks, are engaged. Once the knowledge is penetrated the intersecting planes, the reading rooms, allow for the following programs to exist. The support program, offices, auditoriums, and research, happen only as a result of the interaction between book and the engagement. The idea that the space of the stacks regulate the articulation of the reading rooms and support spaces enhances the thesis that knowledge extends to power and with the power of knowledge creates control. On the ground level this concept is strengthen through voids within the surface, sunken gardens and light wells, will manipulate and control the people above. Views down into the space will arouse a sense of the intangible, both idealistic theory and physical spaces, and tempt people to engage the library and approach the spaces sacredly. These views will also create panoptic relationship between the passerby and the underground realm of the library and the same is true looking from below out above. These experiences will embrace the concept of power through knowledge. The library will evoke the power of knowledge and the power of the engagement.
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