Competition

[garethace]

The modern idea of a Library? What is it?

 

The surging wave of information is affecting every aspect of social structures and forcing the revision of public facilities. The library is also caught up in this maelstrom. As the information age evolves, we see a tremendous increase in information not only due to the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, but also due to the increasing quantities of books and magazines. It is rapidly becoming impossible to contain them all in a conventional library, while computerized searches are now much easier. Computers have replaced the former index booths, turning them into "information access corners". Rather than a formal perusal of manuscripts at a desk, it has become more popular to read in a relaxed manner. Moreover, books recorded by computer can likewise be read by computer. And furthermore, the library has become an information network node in the community. Its role has widened to facilitate lectures, exhibitions and clubs for those with similar interests. It is now far more appropriate to use the term "mediatheque" rather than "library".

http://www.cgco.co.jp/english/glass_house.html

 

Acessibility is a big issue in Library design - so as not to exclude any individuals. Towards Accessible Human-Computer Interaction:

 

http://www.sun.com/access/developers/updt.HCI.advance.html

 

[ May 20, 2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[garethace]

The modern idea of a Library? What is it?

 

The surging wave of information is affecting every aspect of social structures and forcing the revision of public facilities. The library is also caught up in this maelstrom. As the information age evolves, we see a tremendous increase in information not only due to the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, but also due to the increasing quantities of books and magazines. It is rapidly becoming impossible to contain them all in a conventional library, while computerized searches are now much easier. Computers have replaced the former index booths, turning them into "information access corners". Rather than a formal perusal of manuscripts at a desk, it has become more popular to read in a relaxed manner. Moreover, books recorded by computer can likewise be read by computer. And furthermore, the library has become an information network node in the community. Its role has widened to facilitate lectures, exhibitions and clubs for those with similar interests. It is now far more appropriate to use the term "mediatheque" rather than "library".

http://www.cgco.co.jp/english/glass_house.html

 

Acessibility is a big issue in Library design - so as not to exclude any individuals. Towards Accessible Human-Computer Interaction:

 

http://www.sun.com/access/developers/updt.HCI.advance.html

 

[ May 20, 2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[garethace]

A Writer's Retreat

 

"There are writers who find comfort and inspiration to pursue their activity in noisy cafes, smoky wine-bars, crowded trains, busy airport lounges, in public urban spaces ... and there are writers who prefer the isolation of a private room, the ascetic conditions of a monastic cell, or the seclusion of a small cabin cut off from the rest of the world."

The CAA Student Design Competition 2003 invites you to design a sustainable retreat that addresses the needs of a reclusive writer.

 

http://www.comarchitect.org/studentcomp.asp

 

Not a bad place to begin thinking of such a design would be here:

 

The Un-Private House Exhibition at MOMA, 1999.

 

The literary critic Walter Benjamin came to see the nineteenth-century private house as not only separate from the public world but, more significantly, as a retreat from it. Perhaps for a similar reason, Swedish artist Carl Larsson was moved to devote a series of watercolors (A Home, 1899) to his family home, which he described as the place he "experienced that unspeakably sweet feeling of seclusion from the noise of the world."

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1999/un-privatehouse/projects.html

 

Also check out the excellent essay:

 

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1999/un-privatehouse/essay.html

 

If you know any writers whatsoever, you will realise you simple there needs often are. I think, that would be the key to understanding this competition - many writers just want to get out there and become a part of nature. I quite fancy this design myself for a writer, if only seasonal maybe.

 

http://www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/parkitect/oper/dena05lg.gif

 

This rural Chinesse house web site in a plausible enough route to go also, something about writers that appeals to romantic places, old places, places which seem to be from a different time.

 

http://www.atlasmagazine.com/photo/laude6/guangdong1.html

 

Ecological design principles:

 

http://www.ecodesign.org/edi/ecodesign.html

 

[ May 20, 2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[garethace]

A Writer's Retreat

 

"There are writers who find comfort and inspiration to pursue their activity in noisy cafes, smoky wine-bars, crowded trains, busy airport lounges, in public urban spaces ... and there are writers who prefer the isolation of a private room, the ascetic conditions of a monastic cell, or the seclusion of a small cabin cut off from the rest of the world."

The CAA Student Design Competition 2003 invites you to design a sustainable retreat that addresses the needs of a reclusive writer.

 

http://www.comarchitect.org/studentcomp.asp

 

Not a bad place to begin thinking of such a design would be here:

 

The Un-Private House Exhibition at MOMA, 1999.

 

The literary critic Walter Benjamin came to see the nineteenth-century private house as not only separate from the public world but, more significantly, as a retreat from it. Perhaps for a similar reason, Swedish artist Carl Larsson was moved to devote a series of watercolors (A Home, 1899) to his family home, which he described as the place he "experienced that unspeakably sweet feeling of seclusion from the noise of the world."

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1999/un-privatehouse/projects.html

 

Also check out the excellent essay:

 

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1999/un-privatehouse/essay.html

 

If you know any writers whatsoever, you will realise you simple there needs often are. I think, that would be the key to understanding this competition - many writers just want to get out there and become a part of nature. I quite fancy this design myself for a writer, if only seasonal maybe.

 

http://www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/parkitect/oper/dena05lg.gif

 

This rural Chinesse house web site in a plausible enough route to go also, something about writers that appeals to romantic places, old places, places which seem to be from a different time.

 

http://www.atlasmagazine.com/photo/laude6/guangdong1.html

 

Ecological design principles:

 

http://www.ecodesign.org/edi/ecodesign.html

 

[ May 20, 2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]