The Songdo library will be a community hub and gathering place, allowing equal access to knowledge for people regardless of age, gender, culture, race, or economic status. Knowledge is sought not only in books, but through free access technologies and robust programs and services that promote individual and collaborative learning. Flexible space to house current and future programs and services: Makerspace, recording studios, green screen rooms, and virtual technologies, expands the role of the library as a center for learning. With a flexible programmatic framework, the Songdo Library will be malleable and adapt to the community’s diverse needs as they evolve over time.
North and south facades are organized by framed elements offering views into books stacks and library program recalling the still life genre. This framework gives form to a mezzanine bookstack system suspended from the roof structure above; each level defined by interconnecting stairs and enclosed study space. The combination of color, massing, and building organization animates the elevation creating Chaekgeori in built form ensuring a sense of pride for the community and a symbolic building for the region.
The library site is uniquely located adjacent to an elevated park system that provides shared green space, public pathways, and a buffer to traffic and vehicle noise. We envision an earthen berm centered in the library site engaging the adjacent parkway. Serpentine walkways and public gardens drape over the berm extending the green zone, providing public amenities and pedestrian access across the library site.
The berm is held back on the north and south sides by a large arching stone walls. The walls define public plazas and library entry points increasing community connections and allowing program space to extend to the exterior. The Chaekgeori form lifted above the arching stone walls ties back to local typology of the fortress gate further celebrating Korean culture, knitting the library into the larger urban fabric, and providing a striking image of this symbolic building from all sides of the site.
Chaekgeori (책거리), translated as "books and things", is a genre of still-life painting from the Joseon period of Korea that features books as the dominant subject. The chaekgeori tradition flourished from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century and was enjoyed by all members of the population, from the king to the commoners, revealing the infatuation with books and learning in Korean culture. This genre of painting continued through the modern period and inspires contemporary artists today. It also, quite literally, inspires our design of the Songdo Library.
Status: Design Competition
Client: City of Songdo
Size: 8,200 SM (88,000 SF)
Project Type: Civic + Public
Services: Architecture, Programming, Interior Design
Engineering: ARUP
Chaekgeori (책거리), translated as "books and things", is a genre of still-life painting from the Joseon period of Korea that features books as the dominant subject. The chaekgeori tradition flourished from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century and was enjoyed by all members of the population, from the king to the commoners, revealing the infatuation with books and learning in Korean culture. This genre of painting continued through the modern period and inspires contemporary artists today. It also, quite literally, inspires our design of the Songdo Library.
