Library

Sited at the intersection of two major pedestrian pathways, Polett Walk and Liacouras Walk, and at the nexus of Temple’s Main Campus, the project anchors a new social and academic heart for the university’s diverse student body of over 39,000. Woven into the fabric of North Philadelphia, the building sits just one block off of Broad Street, the connecting artery to the city. Within its dynamic urban context, Snøhetta’s design, developed in collaboration with Stantec, reinterprets the traditional typology of the research library as a repository for books, integrating the building with a diversity of collaborative and social learning spaces. And in offering more than double the amount of study spaces than its 1960s predecessor, Paley Library, the 220,000-square-foot Library anticipates over 5 million annual visitors. By uniting a plethora of academic resources, disciplines, and cutting-edge technology under one roof, Charles Library stewards Temple’s progressive mission to provide equitable learning experiences for its students, its faculty, and the surrounding community.

Bookgarden is a place in the shade where residents of Opañel neighborhood leave books for sharing. A place to read in the middle of a garden made by neighbors. Bookgarden is also the main material legacy within a community art project called Imagina Madrid which has been focused on different neighborhoods of the city. In this case is Opañel neighborhood who became part of a long process of communal activities, landscape, and architectural design.

Inspired by a great tree under which the community gathers to learn, share, and build new knowledge, the design of the New Castle County Route 9 Library & Innovation Center provides an array of cutting-edge program spaces under a single, protective canopy.

In 2014, Kokaistudios won an international architectural and interior design competition to build the Law Library of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Comprising a trio of functions – research, teaching, and office space – the building recalls both traditional printing blocks, as well as the Chinese capital’s signature hutongs and courtyards. Defined and connected by a series of voids, it is a striking addition to this most prestigious of campuses.

The project is a result of winning an open, international plan and design competition in 2010. The House for Books and Blues, or Bok & Blueshuset is a three-story house containing library, cinema, live stage, café, museum for blues, sound studio and music tuition.