Busy with my M.Arch dissertation, 'EVERYWHERE IS HERE: Architecture, Information Culture, and a Developing Information Society'. The argument explores how digital information perpetuated the Information Age and produced a social 'information culture' and how does this take effect in the developing world. We are early days into the Network Age, and as we progress communities on the other side of the digital divide are left behind, both from digital infrastructure, and the culture of use of new information technologies.
With new digital content rapidly being produced and consumed, the spaces of information are changing too. The library archetype begins to see its traditional 17th Century role come into question. It's not true that the library will disappear by 2019, but it will definitely become more malleable and changes its civic role, and with it the spaces will change too.
The library may not be a library at all, but maybe a theatre of knowledge or an urban information bar, providing immersive and creative environments that within the developing world (or poor/marginalized communities) could be aimed at developing awareness of new ICTs, and be used to nurture a culture of use of these technologies in their lives.
what will happen or is happening to the library?
is the library doomed? and info-resource centers in the city must be re-invented?
how does the library's role in the developing world differ from that of the developed world and an established info-society?
why are our spaces of learning and socializing today cafes?
could the library be a big cafe, or information bar?
maybe sometimes a library is just a place to sit to absorb all the stuff available.
check out william mitchell (mit media lab) who's done some thinking about this. he brought a team of students to louisville's library system to ask just these sorts of questions.
also, a studio at kentucky in 2005(?) under the watch of michael rotondi and michael barry did a project they called a 'infoteria' or something like that, after louisville's metro government asked them specifically to not do their planned library expansion project... nice results, may have been gathered somewhere.
--
anyway, i think so far so good. i'm not sure i'd want to add much at this point because you're asking good questions and following them through.
I lived with a librarian once. a faculty librarain at a university. this was back in the day mind you but, we were watching a documentary on the selection of the architect for the chicago library. she became so pissed off at the concept that helmut jahn introduced, ie the library is like a supermarket, i thought she was going to throw her thesaurus through the t.v. screen. so, i would suggest talking to some library scientists before coming up with the cute catch all concept.
The Central Library in my city goings on this month...
Summer film series for kids
Book discussion of the Reader
Two art exhibits
Internet job search workshops
Fireside chats with historians. although since its 85 degrees out i wonder about this one...
Classical Ragtime concert
workshop on african arts and crafts
Small business workshop
Health fair for seniors
Bilingual stortyime
chamber music concerts
african drumming
Non profit organization assistance
Grants for beginners series
introduction to the foundation directory online database
Savi (social assets and vulnerabilities indicators) workshop
The library has hundreds of computers that are always being used by patrons oh and they have coffee shop too.
^ In line with Vado's list of library happenings, I think we'll see the library move closer to the concept of the mediatheque. The relevance of printed books might be on the wane (even that point could be argued), but I think there will always be a place for the physical collection of information. Without the bricks and mortar location, I don't think the opportunities are the same for interaction and community involvement. And that to me, is the real strength of the library.
Thanks for the thoughts guys
and steven for the reference :)
IamGray, absolutely agree, interaction environment, person to person is vital.
vado retro, thanks for that i am certainly meeting with some librarians. they after all are the real client
As far as the library becoming a mediatheque, yes it appears very possible to some extent or section, but i dont know if the mediatheque is the proper response. media consumption on the net is ripe, but i think i'm leaning more toward revisiting what 'information space' is post the fountain age of anchient rome, town halls, and public debate in city square. These accidental spaces of chance encounter and sometimes mass spectacle were really the spaces of information exchange, debate, political lobbying, gossiping, and constant twittering in an urban space. Today... twittering is digital process of updating what u are doing, every second if u will.
The internet and digital information is certainly institutionalizing certain programs, but at the same time while information is democratized to fill any space, billboard , cellphone, laptop, augmented reality signs, etc... it also calls for re-organisation. It wants to be re-housed? consolidated (within reason) but play with its freedom to transcend distance as well!
the mediatheque was a response to the consolidation of media information and its rapid consumption, but didnt really push the freedom that information has today, nor did it explore info-scapes as public spaces or 'accidental spaces', the information exchange that is a very human tactile and oral experience (i should rather say verbal right? hahah) . but im not convinced it will take over the library. it is a media house.... the library is cultural symbol of information resource and access, as well as a public retreat, a lounge, and study space.
The delft library by mecanoo really begins to explore the library as a street or a park first (public space of chance? like a cafe or central park).
I don't think the library will ever become a public square. Even though there are often community events and lectures, it's still mostly used as a place of quiet introspection (even with the large number of people who use the computers). I've always used the library as a place of respite from the city.
you can still have "accidental encounters" with information in a traditional library - i.e. walking through the stacks and randomly pulling books off shelves - but those encounters are less intense and more palatable than what would occur in the public square.
I think the benefit of the library is that it is a place where you can absorb information without the normal distractions of city life.
very true, the idea is of course not to be a cafe, not to be a public square, not to be a retreat, not to be an info store (ALONE) but all of the above. Yes the retreat from the urban noise, and a place of contemplation and study is one of its primary features. so really the issue is questioning what are the other functions? and what are the new functions?
What do u mean as the difference between information and knowledge?
Data is a collection of facts or content.
Information is organized data.
Knowledge is built upon information.
since text, sights and sounds are being effectively divorced from physical surfaces, then I don't see why knowledge of information need to be housed in physical structures. if the library is to exist, then it must be to one's domestic terminal what cinema is to tv. people go there for the full immersion experience, not the actual sight & soud content, as well as the social aspect of spectacle. therefore, to continue to exist the library must provide the experience of full knowledge-immersion that would exceed the financial means of most people. it won't be so much about the library (which would be hovering virtually in zeros and ones) as much as it would be about the hardware and software required to magnify knowledge and render it into a spectacle. like the cinema, the library would be the almost-tangible almost physical, by virtue of magnification. this is the only way it can survive as an institution inside a building...people now largely congregate, in their spare time, for entertainment not knowledge. thats the trend; to assume otherwise is merely to be unwittingly nostalgic.
YES! 'an exciting immersive environment of virtual information unlike any we have at home or on our cell phone" I love the analogy of the cinema and tv
Quibble of Sundog & Halo "to continue to exist the library must provide the experience of full knowledge-immersion that would exceed the financial means of most people"
i might disagree with that though. isn't that what cinema, theater and television are; an acting out of the word? a condensed version so to speak? an IMAX version of a book renders my imagination moot, does it not? unless you can some how interlace word/visual/sound in some "real" spatial way, i can't see needing anything more than a VR headset, and then we don't need libraries, we just all need to get minors in informational sciences and become our own librarians.
i think for me, the reference to cinema was not so much a simile (saying that the library must be all audio and visual), but a metaphor suggesting that the experience must simply be more involving and engaging than the one we have at home on the pc (and VR headset). However achieve it... possibly that is where the social aspect comes in, the @home experience is far removed from sitting in a public coffee shop on your laptop, and that experience is far removed from sitting in a park, or a rooftop, or a private study room in a library.
but again, for me what is important not to loose sight of is context. we can easily get lost in futuristic images of a bladerunner-esque world where everyone walks around in issey miyake rags and virtual reality surrounds us. Today, and in the developing world ubiquitous computing and personal pc's for everyone is a far fetched reality.
so it is crucial to contextualize the thinking for today, for developing an information society (not catering for an already established info-society) - a place of relief, education, awareness, participation, information immersion, shared spaces of use, ????
perhaps part of the problem with libraries is that they are only informational. in that i guess i mean that, librarians can be primarily uni-directional, they perhaps lack some of the specificity that would be able to make connections beyond the obvious; like relating a particular artist/writer/architect to a fictional/biographer/etc writer or subjects outside of that particular sphere. perhaps it's the way books are categorized, perhaps it's the lack of a real dialog between the user and the specialist; perhaps it's the simple fact that most people don't understand what a librarian is or does and how their knowledge and information might be able to make my experience richer?
i guess that's why the internet is so potent as a source of information, i can make connections that weren't readily apparent by and through the hypertexting and search engines available.
the experience must simply be more involving and engaging than the one we have at home on the pc (and VR headset)
why? why must your experience at a library be more "engaging" than what you get on a pc or vr headset? why must everything be visual and noise entertainment? you can go to a library any day and get a bunch of books on a particular topic (which I did a few days ago) and each one of those books represent the rich involvement and engagement and knowledge of one person, along with nice illustrations. You can't get that with the partial pages and missing copyrighted illustrations on Google Books. That will change in the future, but right now the experience of a library full of great books is plenty engaging for me.
From Ed Keller's ongoing studio work in various schools;
A Library for the Multitude
"The Library, the Archive, is the technical solution we humans have deployed to solve this challenge of amnesia; a technique which intends to keep the supposed beast inside each of us at bay. Yet given our contemporary global, political and technological situation, it is impossible to consider the 'Library' as an institution without acknowledging that an absolute redefinition of power is taking place.
If information in many ways equals power, and if awareness and intelligence are ever more modulated by the emerging infrastructure free and wireless Net, then the Library must radically reconfigure itself as a new institution if it hopes to survive. In fact, there is little hope for the Library as a conventional bastion of power and law. By the time today's policy makers realize the extent of the technological revolution, distributed networks and information reservoirs will have self-deployed to such an extent that the traditional form of the library will be extinct. As well, the spatial relationships that have defined the transfer of knowledge in the city, in the library as an institution, will also have suffered a sea change."
i tend to agree with emilio. purely in business terms, in order to survive a library must offer a patron that which he cannot get from the comfort of his own pc, but still fulfill the basic typological functions of a library. that does not mean it becomes a cafe or community forum; we already have buildings that fulfill those roles in other typologies. it centers more closely around its role as repository and disseminator of knowledge/information. without being so esoteric as to lose its popular appeal, what can a library do that the internet cannot?
gosh architects can be so melodramatic : "The Library, the Archive, is the technical solution we humans have deployed to solve this challenge of amnesia; a technique which intends to keep the supposed beast inside each of us at bay"
to those melodrama architects- the cinema is saved by the special effects animation which the CG can generates infinitismal detail that u can only experience in a big theatre.
i have to disagree with ed keller on "If information in many ways equals power"...this is one of those common misconception during the 90's when information become readily available through internet...
it is the way u group the information and utilize it to gain power, such as google has its own recipies for their search engine, digging ur personal information, regroup it to potential advertisement...
the future of library shall has its own stance on grouping certain information readily available to the local/global community...
spectacle is one direction to go with this, but personally, it seems antithetical to what my library experiences have been and takes you closer to stuffing guy debord into a round hole. personally i have always enjoyed the fact that libraries are a place you go to have an essentially private experience.
i am at the library right now using one of the 15 minute computers. here to pick up a couple of holds. the place is busy. the librarian is named francis and she is very cute in a hipster sort of way. i'll ask her what she thinks and get back to you.
its obvious that the library is a very different space for everyone. and i agree the bttle isnt between 'bits and atoms' or digital vs books, but really it is about what is on offer, and does it appeal to u... and others. Reading some of these comments (although most u are are designers/architects) u comment more about the experience of the library and what it means for u.
i see two types of comments here. there are those that pertain to what a library is (particularly in the age of digital media) and those that pertain to how we experience a library. those in the former specifically address the changing programmatic identity of a library; those in the latter address the spatial qualities of a library. the former i think will make for a richer thesis if properly researched and developed; the latter will make for a better building. you can integrate the two ideas, but you risk deluding the focus of your thesis. it sounds like you are more interested in the former. i get a bit nervous though when you write about a library as a "big cafe" or "information bar" because i think your spatial translation of a rethought program has missed the mark.
in opinion the two are inseparable. and considering the future of the library programatically is equally weighted to how the form. The changes is a library's prgram, whether significantly different or subtle, will inform the 'form' of the building. together will its specific context, the form is a response to the questioning and rethinking a future library scenario.
ignore the above comment!, my keyboard is sticky (and no... its not what u are thinking!!!) here it is again:
in my opinion the two are inseparable. when considering the future of the library's program is equally weighted to how the form might change as a result of new planning concepts. The changes in a library's program, whether significantly different or subtle from that of the traditional model, will inform the 'form' of the building. together with its specific context, the form is a response to the questioning and rethinking a future library scenario.
i'm not disagreeing with you - any thesis you come up with is going to have to be translated into spatial form. i'm just saying that a building that focuses on the changing experiential qualities of a library is going to be different than one than that focuses on the changing functional requirements of a library. or to put it another way, the first project is more renzo piano, the second more rem koolhaas.
but just to go back to aspect's suggestion, if a library's new function is to assemble and organize information (an idea that warrants much research), that idea seems to be innately non-spatial. what then do you do in terms of a physical architecture?
yes that's the big question, or rather...what would Renzo do? :)
in terms of exploring the physical architecture, i am experimenting with the notion of building-non-building... so looking at physical design gestures that blur between what is the building and what is public space? and quite possibly leave the answer to debate. I guess, a urban library that is less a typical box (with threshold, entrance, atria, doors, circulation cores) and more an 'unvolumetric architecture' but at the same time... has incorporated where necessarily, the qualities and necessities that the box brings to a libraries spaces...social and archival needs.
if that sounds a little here and there, its because i am exploring this at the moment in models that present a primary focus on accidental public space and a floating roof of knowledge....(the library)...
see the thing is, i am being quite specifically responsive to a developing context in southern Africa. I am mapping in detail how public space usage is significantly characteristic of Africa/southern Africa, as well as how people use internet cafes and libraries. the result should be a gradual move from the informal information spaces of the public interface/square into a welcoming, casual and formal space of information (much like a library) of learning, leisure, exploration, as well as retreat, business, social, study,... the transfer from that public through (blurring the boundaries) into a civic structure feel that it needs an informality to it, much like the internet itself, somehow organized yet chaotic- perfect description of an African urban experience....somehow organized yet chaotic.
so my exploration into the future of the library is continuously being explored above the clouds and then forced down to earth for a specific 'developing African context' today.
Moving quickly into the design phase of a building that promotes the awareness and participation with new information technologies, knowledge gain, and innovation, in a developing context.
This small clip is a discussion and crit I had with two practicing architects, Dirk Bahmann and Sarah Calburn from Sarah Calburn Architects. SARAH CALBURN ARCHITECTS
DONT KNOW HOW TO POST THE VIDEO HERE, SO HERE IS THE ACTUAL POST...CLICK ME (Sorry, any ideas how to post a blogger video in this forum? )
THE SUBJECT OF THIS CLIP:
I have began to discuss the notion of what space or platform is appropriate for the design of an information and knowledge building. An architectural exploration that began by learning from the archetype of the tradition library, yet it begins to push and pull the concepts of space-making, public space,and recreational space, into a de-institutionalized model that recognized the flexibility, social interaction and comfort that the informal market place can achieve (much like the nature of digital information today re- ETHER).
This early discussion focuses on breaking down the icon of a typical building block, and explores the organic diagram of how spaces and programming can be connected while still being jelly-like and flexible, such that the building becomes more like a village, or open campus that highlights new technologies, and remains still focused on referencing the nostalgic experiences of a library space or book store. Still big gestures for know, but this will be narrowed down into a building soon
What is the role of the library in a digital world? or is an urban information bar?
Hi everyone!
Busy with my M.Arch dissertation, 'EVERYWHERE IS HERE: Architecture, Information Culture, and a Developing Information Society'. The argument explores how digital information perpetuated the Information Age and produced a social 'information culture' and how does this take effect in the developing world. We are early days into the Network Age, and as we progress communities on the other side of the digital divide are left behind, both from digital infrastructure, and the culture of use of new information technologies.
With new digital content rapidly being produced and consumed, the spaces of information are changing too. The library archetype begins to see its traditional 17th Century role come into question. It's not true that the library will disappear by 2019, but it will definitely become more malleable and changes its civic role, and with it the spaces will change too.
The library may not be a library at all, but maybe a theatre of knowledge or an urban information bar, providing immersive and creative environments that within the developing world (or poor/marginalized communities) could be aimed at developing awareness of new ICTs, and be used to nurture a culture of use of these technologies in their lives.
(MOVIE 2min) I have put together a short and playful introduction animation that summarizes this thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asYUI0l6EtE
what will happen or is happening to the library?
is the library doomed? and info-resource centers in the city must be re-invented?
how does the library's role in the developing world differ from that of the developed world and an established info-society?
why are our spaces of learning and socializing today cafes?
could the library be a big cafe, or information bar?
what do think?
i like urban information bar.
maybe sometimes a library is just a place to sit to absorb all the stuff available.
check out william mitchell (mit media lab) who's done some thinking about this. he brought a team of students to louisville's library system to ask just these sorts of questions.
also, a studio at kentucky in 2005(?) under the watch of michael rotondi and michael barry did a project they called a 'infoteria' or something like that, after louisville's metro government asked them specifically to not do their planned library expansion project... nice results, may have been gathered somewhere.
--
anyway, i think so far so good. i'm not sure i'd want to add much at this point because you're asking good questions and following them through.
keep going!
They'll end up selling latte's and look like a Barnes and Noble.
that was my idea when i did the stockholm library competition a few years back.
I lived with a librarian once. a faculty librarain at a university. this was back in the day mind you but, we were watching a documentary on the selection of the architect for the chicago library. she became so pissed off at the concept that helmut jahn introduced, ie the library is like a supermarket, i thought she was going to throw her thesaurus through the t.v. screen. so, i would suggest talking to some library scientists before coming up with the cute catch all concept.
The Central Library in my city goings on this month...
Summer film series for kids
Book discussion of the Reader
Two art exhibits
Internet job search workshops
Fireside chats with historians. although since its 85 degrees out i wonder about this one...
Classical Ragtime concert
workshop on african arts and crafts
Small business workshop
Health fair for seniors
Bilingual stortyime
chamber music concerts
african drumming
Non profit organization assistance
Grants for beginners series
introduction to the foundation directory online database
Savi (social assets and vulnerabilities indicators) workshop
The library has hundreds of computers that are always being used by patrons oh and they have coffee shop too.
and books!
^ In line with Vado's list of library happenings, I think we'll see the library move closer to the concept of the mediatheque. The relevance of printed books might be on the wane (even that point could be argued), but I think there will always be a place for the physical collection of information. Without the bricks and mortar location, I don't think the opportunities are the same for interaction and community involvement. And that to me, is the real strength of the library.
you might think non digital cultures are 'left behind' I'd argue that they are left ahead
From my recent experience, they seem to be de facto homeless shelters. For better or worse...
Thanks for the thoughts guys
and steven for the reference :)
IamGray, absolutely agree, interaction environment, person to person is vital.
vado retro, thanks for that i am certainly meeting with some librarians. they after all are the real client
As far as the library becoming a mediatheque, yes it appears very possible to some extent or section, but i dont know if the mediatheque is the proper response. media consumption on the net is ripe, but i think i'm leaning more toward revisiting what 'information space' is post the fountain age of anchient rome, town halls, and public debate in city square. These accidental spaces of chance encounter and sometimes mass spectacle were really the spaces of information exchange, debate, political lobbying, gossiping, and constant twittering in an urban space. Today... twittering is digital process of updating what u are doing, every second if u will.
The internet and digital information is certainly institutionalizing certain programs, but at the same time while information is democratized to fill any space, billboard , cellphone, laptop, augmented reality signs, etc... it also calls for re-organisation. It wants to be re-housed? consolidated (within reason) but play with its freedom to transcend distance as well!
the mediatheque was a response to the consolidation of media information and its rapid consumption, but didnt really push the freedom that information has today, nor did it explore info-scapes as public spaces or 'accidental spaces', the information exchange that is a very human tactile and oral experience (i should rather say verbal right? hahah) . but im not convinced it will take over the library. it is a media house.... the library is cultural symbol of information resource and access, as well as a public retreat, a lounge, and study space.
The delft library by mecanoo really begins to explore the library as a street or a park first (public space of chance? like a cafe or central park).
I don't think the library will ever become a public square. Even though there are often community events and lectures, it's still mostly used as a place of quiet introspection (even with the large number of people who use the computers). I've always used the library as a place of respite from the city.
you can still have "accidental encounters" with information in a traditional library - i.e. walking through the stacks and randomly pulling books off shelves - but those encounters are less intense and more palatable than what would occur in the public square.
I think the benefit of the library is that it is a place where you can absorb information without the normal distractions of city life.
also - is the library really a repository for information? historically it's been viewed as a repository for knowledge.
very true, the idea is of course not to be a cafe, not to be a public square, not to be a retreat, not to be an info store (ALONE) but all of the above. Yes the retreat from the urban noise, and a place of contemplation and study is one of its primary features. so really the issue is questioning what are the other functions? and what are the new functions?
What do u mean as the difference between information and knowledge?
Data is a collection of facts or content.
Information is organized data.
Knowledge is built upon information.
since text, sights and sounds are being effectively divorced from physical surfaces, then I don't see why knowledge of information need to be housed in physical structures. if the library is to exist, then it must be to one's domestic terminal what cinema is to tv. people go there for the full immersion experience, not the actual sight & soud content, as well as the social aspect of spectacle. therefore, to continue to exist the library must provide the experience of full knowledge-immersion that would exceed the financial means of most people. it won't be so much about the library (which would be hovering virtually in zeros and ones) as much as it would be about the hardware and software required to magnify knowledge and render it into a spectacle. like the cinema, the library would be the almost-tangible almost physical, by virtue of magnification. this is the only way it can survive as an institution inside a building...people now largely congregate, in their spare time, for entertainment not knowledge. thats the trend; to assume otherwise is merely to be unwittingly nostalgic.
or maybe the library would betransfigured into a specialized surgery ward where chips are embedded deep in our heads for information download.
YES! 'an exciting immersive environment of virtual information unlike any we have at home or on our cell phone" I love the analogy of the cinema and tv
ah... that was a YES to your first comment ;)
Quibble of Sundog & Halo "to continue to exist the library must provide the experience of full knowledge-immersion that would exceed the financial means of most people"
i might disagree with that though. isn't that what cinema, theater and television are; an acting out of the word? a condensed version so to speak? an IMAX version of a book renders my imagination moot, does it not? unless you can some how interlace word/visual/sound in some "real" spatial way, i can't see needing anything more than a VR headset, and then we don't need libraries, we just all need to get minors in informational sciences and become our own librarians.
i think for me, the reference to cinema was not so much a simile (saying that the library must be all audio and visual), but a metaphor suggesting that the experience must simply be more involving and engaging than the one we have at home on the pc (and VR headset). However achieve it... possibly that is where the social aspect comes in, the @home experience is far removed from sitting in a public coffee shop on your laptop, and that experience is far removed from sitting in a park, or a rooftop, or a private study room in a library.
but again, for me what is important not to loose sight of is context. we can easily get lost in futuristic images of a bladerunner-esque world where everyone walks around in issey miyake rags and virtual reality surrounds us. Today, and in the developing world ubiquitous computing and personal pc's for everyone is a far fetched reality.
so it is crucial to contextualize the thinking for today, for developing an information society (not catering for an already established info-society) - a place of relief, education, awareness, participation, information immersion, shared spaces of use, ????
sorry for terrible typo's there, i wrote it to quickly :) haha
more like an analogy?
yes, i mean analogy :)
perhaps part of the problem with libraries is that they are only informational. in that i guess i mean that, librarians can be primarily uni-directional, they perhaps lack some of the specificity that would be able to make connections beyond the obvious; like relating a particular artist/writer/architect to a fictional/biographer/etc writer or subjects outside of that particular sphere. perhaps it's the way books are categorized, perhaps it's the lack of a real dialog between the user and the specialist; perhaps it's the simple fact that most people don't understand what a librarian is or does and how their knowledge and information might be able to make my experience richer?
i guess that's why the internet is so potent as a source of information, i can make connections that weren't readily apparent by and through the hypertexting and search engines available.
why? why must your experience at a library be more "engaging" than what you get on a pc or vr headset? why must everything be visual and noise entertainment? you can go to a library any day and get a bunch of books on a particular topic (which I did a few days ago) and each one of those books represent the rich involvement and engagement and knowledge of one person, along with nice illustrations. You can't get that with the partial pages and missing copyrighted illustrations on Google Books. That will change in the future, but right now the experience of a library full of great books is plenty engaging for me.
This might be a valuable reading for you.
From Ed Keller's ongoing studio work in various schools;
A Library for the Multitude
"The Library, the Archive, is the technical solution we humans have deployed to solve this challenge of amnesia; a technique which intends to keep the supposed beast inside each of us at bay. Yet given our contemporary global, political and technological situation, it is impossible to consider the 'Library' as an institution without acknowledging that an absolute redefinition of power is taking place.
If information in many ways equals power, and if awareness and intelligence are ever more modulated by the emerging infrastructure free and wireless Net, then the Library must radically reconfigure itself as a new institution if it hopes to survive. In fact, there is little hope for the Library as a conventional bastion of power and law. By the time today's policy makers realize the extent of the technological revolution, distributed networks and information reservoirs will have self-deployed to such an extent that the traditional form of the library will be extinct. As well, the spatial relationships that have defined the transfer of knowledge in the city, in the library as an institution, will also have suffered a sea change."
more
i tend to agree with emilio. purely in business terms, in order to survive a library must offer a patron that which he cannot get from the comfort of his own pc, but still fulfill the basic typological functions of a library. that does not mean it becomes a cafe or community forum; we already have buildings that fulfill those roles in other typologies. it centers more closely around its role as repository and disseminator of knowledge/information. without being so esoteric as to lose its popular appeal, what can a library do that the internet cannot?
my first hunch is that it has something to do with a physical, perhaps even tactile experience, but beyond that, you're on your own.
FBI: why do you rob banks, Willie?
Willie Sutton: Cause that's where the money is.
Liber, libro, libreria...it's where the books are...and I just can't buy that many books and I got enough already.
and, NoctiQuibble, as far as my "attempt" at criticism.....spectacle this.
gosh architects can be so melodramatic : "The Library, the Archive, is the technical solution we humans have deployed to solve this challenge of amnesia; a technique which intends to keep the supposed beast inside each of us at bay"
supposed beast? that warrants an eyebrow raise.
to those melodrama architects- the cinema is saved by the special effects animation which the CG can generates infinitismal detail that u can only experience in a big theatre.
i have to disagree with ed keller on "If information in many ways equals power"...this is one of those common misconception during the 90's when information become readily available through internet...
it is the way u group the information and utilize it to gain power, such as google has its own recipies for their search engine, digging ur personal information, regroup it to potential advertisement...
the future of library shall has its own stance on grouping certain information readily available to the local/global community...
spectacle is one direction to go with this, but personally, it seems antithetical to what my library experiences have been and takes you closer to stuffing guy debord into a round hole. personally i have always enjoyed the fact that libraries are a place you go to have an essentially private experience.
sorry, aspect, we seem to be cross-posting with divergent ideas, but i like where you're going with this.
aspect - I agree - it's both access to and knowing what to do with this information that equals power.
information + education + action = power
just briefly and i might be wrong...
aspect, is not ed keller is saying or meaning the same thing you are saying?
i am at the library right now using one of the 15 minute computers. here to pick up a couple of holds. the place is busy. the librarian is named francis and she is very cute in a hipster sort of way. i'll ask her what she thinks and get back to you.
orhan> ur right, i think it was his saying about "amnesia...beast inside" that draws me away ^^
i think is less about book vs. digital information and more about the reorganizing power of library vs. google, wiki, or even facebook
its obvious that the library is a very different space for everyone. and i agree the bttle isnt between 'bits and atoms' or digital vs books, but really it is about what is on offer, and does it appeal to u... and others. Reading some of these comments (although most u are are designers/architects) u comment more about the experience of the library and what it means for u.
i see two types of comments here. there are those that pertain to what a library is (particularly in the age of digital media) and those that pertain to how we experience a library. those in the former specifically address the changing programmatic identity of a library; those in the latter address the spatial qualities of a library. the former i think will make for a richer thesis if properly researched and developed; the latter will make for a better building. you can integrate the two ideas, but you risk deluding the focus of your thesis. it sounds like you are more interested in the former. i get a bit nervous though when you write about a library as a "big cafe" or "information bar" because i think your spatial translation of a rethought program has missed the mark.
in opinion the two are inseparable. and considering the future of the library programatically is equally weighted to how the form. The changes is a library's prgram, whether significantly different or subtle, will inform the 'form' of the building. together will its specific context, the form is a response to the questioning and rethinking a future library scenario.
ignore the above comment!, my keyboard is sticky (and no... its not what u are thinking!!!) here it is again:
in my opinion the two are inseparable. when considering the future of the library's program is equally weighted to how the form might change as a result of new planning concepts. The changes in a library's program, whether significantly different or subtle from that of the traditional model, will inform the 'form' of the building. together with its specific context, the form is a response to the questioning and rethinking a future library scenario.
they go hand in hand.
i'm not disagreeing with you - any thesis you come up with is going to have to be translated into spatial form. i'm just saying that a building that focuses on the changing experiential qualities of a library is going to be different than one than that focuses on the changing functional requirements of a library. or to put it another way, the first project is more renzo piano, the second more rem koolhaas.
but just to go back to aspect's suggestion, if a library's new function is to assemble and organize information (an idea that warrants much research), that idea seems to be innately non-spatial. what then do you do in terms of a physical architecture?
yes that's the big question, or rather...what would Renzo do? :)
in terms of exploring the physical architecture, i am experimenting with the notion of building-non-building... so looking at physical design gestures that blur between what is the building and what is public space? and quite possibly leave the answer to debate. I guess, a urban library that is less a typical box (with threshold, entrance, atria, doors, circulation cores) and more an 'unvolumetric architecture' but at the same time... has incorporated where necessarily, the qualities and necessities that the box brings to a libraries spaces...social and archival needs.
if that sounds a little here and there, its because i am exploring this at the moment in models that present a primary focus on accidental public space and a floating roof of knowledge....(the library)...
mmmm, ¿
see the thing is, i am being quite specifically responsive to a developing context in southern Africa. I am mapping in detail how public space usage is significantly characteristic of Africa/southern Africa, as well as how people use internet cafes and libraries. the result should be a gradual move from the informal information spaces of the public interface/square into a welcoming, casual and formal space of information (much like a library) of learning, leisure, exploration, as well as retreat, business, social, study,... the transfer from that public through (blurring the boundaries) into a civic structure feel that it needs an informality to it, much like the internet itself, somehow organized yet chaotic- perfect description of an African urban experience....somehow organized yet chaotic.
so my exploration into the future of the library is continuously being explored above the clouds and then forced down to earth for a specific 'developing African context' today.
just posting some of the graphics from the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asYUI0l6EtE
Searching for a new knowledge platform:
Moving quickly into the design phase of a building that promotes the awareness and participation with new information technologies, knowledge gain, and innovation, in a developing context.
This small clip is a discussion and crit I had with two practicing architects, Dirk Bahmann and Sarah Calburn from Sarah Calburn Architects. SARAH CALBURN ARCHITECTS
DONT KNOW HOW TO POST THE VIDEO HERE, SO HERE IS THE ACTUAL POST...CLICK ME (Sorry, any ideas how to post a blogger video in this forum? )
THE SUBJECT OF THIS CLIP:
I have began to discuss the notion of what space or platform is appropriate for the design of an information and knowledge building. An architectural exploration that began by learning from the archetype of the tradition library, yet it begins to push and pull the concepts of space-making, public space,and recreational space, into a de-institutionalized model that recognized the flexibility, social interaction and comfort that the informal market place can achieve (much like the nature of digital information today re- ETHER).
This early discussion focuses on breaking down the icon of a typical building block, and explores the organic diagram of how spaces and programming can be connected while still being jelly-like and flexible, such that the building becomes more like a village, or open campus that highlights new technologies, and remains still focused on referencing the nostalgic experiences of a library space or book store. Still big gestures for know, but this will be narrowed down into a building soon
How come no one has pointed out the legal framework for why libraries exist?
Orochi: to what extent, there civic frameworks?
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.