Final

The library is the traditional archive for human knowledge. Knowledge manifests physically in the form of paper and ink. Within the context of the Information Age, the form of knowledge has changed. It has become more distributed, more fluid. It exists in flows instead of static objects.

The digitalization of knowledge/information results in a dwindling need for traditional libraries. The project proposes an addition to the library that serves to complement the foundation of static knowledge with a connection to the flowing datastream that is the “digital library.”

Its physical form is as an intelligent and flexible skin system. The skin serves both as a functional element (canopy, wall, ceiling, floor, marquee) and a physical manifestation of information flow. Behaviors of the skin are determined by the monitored information flow of various online resource banks. It is the embodiment of an invisible source, an information gate between dimensions.

Functionally, it enables students to work on their laptops outside by providing them environmental protection. Thus, it serves as terminus from which the existing library can tap into the data stream. Like working beneath a willow tree, the skin pulses and sways as data courses through it. Its movement results from a response to designed ratios between the amounts of data contained physically in the library’s books, and data accessed virtually from within the school.

The skin extends beyond the physical boundary of the library and attaches itself to the exterior of the building. The skin is a space frame structure consisting of unit cells that are rhombic dodecahedrons (a platonic solid comprised of 12 identical rhombic faces). Flexible joints within and between the shapes allow for deformation of the skins. These are informed by data collected from virtual resource banks (wikipedia, amazon, youtube, etc). The deformation would result in varying levels of shading, movement and permeability.