CAMERA LUCIDA

“Libraries are sanctuaries from the world and command centers onto it” Rebecca Solnit.

The main concept 

The basic premise of the library's activity is meeting the needs and their character is determined by the society itself, in the life of which a given institution participates. Nowadays, the existence of these institutions is gaining more importance, especially in the context of the rapid development of science and technology. Libraries, functioning in a given social, political and economic system, integrate with the environment and should develop adequately to its needs.

The project we made has been born from the questions: How can we transform the concept of libraries for the contemporary world?. How can we solve this problem through architecture, while maintaining current form and function? How can we nowadays bring together public space along with widely available architecture? How can we share knowledge and information with everyone? Is it possible to make these important and needed spaces easily accessible for everyone? These questions were constantly present in our minds while working on the project and our aim was to carefully work them out. 

The concept behind our project was to associate two extraordinarily crucial fields of culture together. Books as well as photographies have plenty in common. They both tell stories about the world and its experience in an empathic and gentle way that might seem unattainable to express differently. To communicate in words is as precious as the perception of images. Both awake the imagination and teach compassion and candidness.

Our main goal was to tell a story and create an experience. We deeply wanted to design a unique space that takes the visitor into another, metaphysical dimension. Nowadays it is extremely rare to tear oneself away while having dramatically huge amount of distractions everywhere. The space we created is supposed to make that as easy as possible.

Essential intentions

The intention behind the organisation of elements across various levels was to construct a narration that slowly invite the guest inside. Firstly it is supposed to draw the attention by its unusual and mysterious form. Its shape resembles a vintage camera bellows that taper at the end of the structure. It is completely closed at the back. Whereas the front consist of a simple entrance with the glazing made of Venetian mirror above. It separates the interior from the outside world which may create an aura of intimacy as well as relief. The library is supposed to be a shelter, mute hideout for people craving ease and quiet. While getting closer its becomes possible to take a peek inside and notice a mirror at the and of a corridor of shelves. The corridor is dark and subtly climbs up. The stairs leading to the mirror are surrounded by books and might also be used as benches. Next to the mirror there are winding stairs leading to the next floor. On the upper level there is a space with cozy seats for reading in private but also there is an accessible desk for cooperative work. It is placed right behind the Venetian mirror so that it could be possible do cherish outside view without the feeling of being observed. 

The final outcome of our work was a result of plenty attempts. We knew from the beginning what kind of inspiration we are looking for and what we want to express but finding the final form took some time and research. We did not want to make the exact replica of a vintage camera, what we wanted to create was the sense of it. By that we mean the structure, shape, colour, the sensation of having an interaction with this object. What kind of associations or vibes does it give and how can a visitor experience it in a mindful, wholesome way. We truly believe that the process is as significant as the final result, due to the fact that this is the time when you are supposed to get to know your project and let it soak through you. We work as a team so it is supposingly obvious that at first our ideas lead to different outcomes. The most interesting and valuable part for us was when they became a unity, combination of both of our imaginations. 

Proposed materials 

The representation we chose for the project is a model that we made ourselves and materials we used are mostly HDF boards and black blotting paper. The main construction is aimed to be the stem so it has to be firm. While creating the bellows that are the covering we were focused on the impression of delicacy and settlement. We did glue ech and every shelf by our own hands which took tremendous amount of time which later we used in the project only in a slight dimension. Finally for showing the interior we created renders in Blender so that we could express our intention in precise way. 

Surrounding

As the surrounding for the library we decided to choose winter landscape. We aimed to create a perceptible contrast between the object and the background. The ascetic, cold atmosphere highlights the heavy apperception of the dark tones. We truly cared for uniqueness and mistery while maintaining the simplicity of reception. It is believed that the clarity of the  main message (which in our case is the ambience and overall attribute) is as crucial as space for guesswork and everyone’s own interpretation. 

How will the project transform in passing time is a question which leaves us vastness of possible speculations. Depending on the general future of libraries and literature, which we firmly believe is irreplaceable, it may go in progressive and innovative ways. We hope that changing the form and messing with conventions might be helpful with attracting people’s attention and direct them to gaining interest in spending their time in the surrounding of books and mindfulness. It is most definitely not a necessity to sit obediently in an ordinary, for some people boring, room and studying bloated volumes. It is not imposed in advance. Libraries might be adventurous, exceptional and out of the box. As writers create impossible narrations and brand new realities in their work, architects may do alike in their own field. We are able to tell a story and make up something no one has ever thought of just by sinking into the world of creativity and imagination. It is truly difficult to get rid of prejudices and abandon stereotypes but it is worth trying. That might be the only way to create, not to duplicate.