BACKGROUND

Songdo city aims to be an international trading hub. It will become a strong economic zone in yellow sea economic basin. Songdo IBD as “smart city” had 20,000 residents and around 12 billion invested in 2012. Until 2018 the population is growing into 50,000.

Library buildings have assumed social and symbolic roles in societies across the world and for generations. As a building, the library has been known to connote eminence, and to integrally link knowledge with power. In recent years, the role and significance of library buildings has changed; with expansive and centrally located urban spaces, some libraries serve as community centers, public squares or think tanks. 

YIN-YANG BOX

The Taegeuk is a traditional Korean symbol, commonly associated with Korean tradition and represents balance in the universe. This balance is, similarly, expressed as the familiar Korean symbol called Yin-Yang. The concept of Yin and Yang became embedded into the spatial composition Book Box. Two distinct spaces are interlocked within a larger volume which also comprise the rectangular box with dimensions 50.5 x 50.5 x 21.6 meters. The Yin Space serves as an open platform for social interactions within, while the physical presence of the building will intentionally express the underlying implications of the program.

SMART BOX 

Songdo IBD is becoming known as hi-tech hub; a burgeoning Smart City that has technology embedded into the fabric of the built environment. There are sensors on every block that monitor environmental phenomena like temperature, energy, and traffic movements, and even safety is technologically revolutionised, with authorities in contact with incident at the push of a button. Space-age water recycling systems and advanced charging stations for automobiles are all running in Songdo IBD, and with all this smart technology, Songdo IBD is becoming a model for the next generation of so-called Smart Cities.

The new Songdo library will absorb the intention of it’s city and bring smart technologies into the what some consider to be an old or traditional building program. Bridging the gap between the services offered by the libraries and the rapidly changing and competing needs of the local and international informatically-linked world. Songdo library will help redefine indexing technology with a library App, and this will not only be accessed by smartphones, it will reflect the underlying information technology that connects the library data base to the physical structures that house the physical books.

EVENT BOX 

Given the novel site location, the Songdo library has the potential to become an international cultural exchange. The population of Songdo area has many international residents, and these people are learning how to integrate into Korean culture. The library is an ideal location for learning about Korean culture, especially through special local events that can be affiliated with the new building. The building will become an integral part of an iconic city, especially by hosting international events, and conferences that attract IT, Biotech, and various technological enterprises.

KNOWLEDGE BOX 

The library is more than a building where people borrow old books. The library has come to represent the power of exchanging knowledge through communication. As the location adjacent to the University of Inchon, it will attract more student participation, such as TED and workplace seminars, it also will provide a real platform for future start-ups, and entrepreneurial offices.