Architectural speculations on the Library of the Future

Abstract

This poster details work from a graduating design studio for Masters students of architecture at the University of Adelaide, and its engagement with the university’s central library, the Barr Smith Library, concurrently undertaking its own major review. The central task of the studio was to grapple with the question of the library of the future. It sought ways of reinventing the library, an institution and a social and architectural typology that is seriously threatened by technological and social changes, chief among them being digitalisation and privatisation. In response to this situation, the studio asked its participants: what new hybrid configurations, scenarios, programs, and typologies are plausible to sustaining the promise of the library? Details of the premise and design process, six individual proposals, and discussion of the outcomes of the studio are included in the poster, which incorporates numerous visual analyses, design diagrams, and renderings to illustrate the discussion.