デグゴサン市立図書館

大韓民国, 大邱, 2012

Our proposal for this small communal library envisions not built enclosure but open, focal environment. The urban landscape becomes an informal field of information in the library. Like in the surrounding park itself, strict boundaries are replaced by seamless transitions that create an environment of exchange and communication. Information is not divisioned or compartmentalised but accessed and stored in interactive processes, anticipating libraries in an age where static possession has changed to interactive exchanges. The Daegu Gosan Public Library is an elastic archive for all.

As if a condensed volume of static knowledge had been sliced open, then pulled apart to reveal and share the re-discovered knowledge in interactive dialogues through a network of spatially continuous interstices, the DGPL is a trajectory that unfolds over a 300m long sequence of loosely intertwined spaces. Books and other media are shelved along the spine in the centre of the building. Branching out from this central trajectory are places with views of the surrounding trees where reading, listening, watching, browsing is enjoyed amongst the leaves, making collective and individual activities possible without divisions.

Situated in and defining an urban park, the DGPL is a landscape of transparent openness, inviting its surroundings to flow in and out of the building. Composed of thin leaves that gently meander upwards, the DGPL bridges the city and park: The park continues into the library and the library extends towards the park.

The DGPL is an adaptive framework where an ever-growing diversity of media is allowed to interact in new ways of shared knowledge.