Liboratory: Architectural Design for a Flexible Public Library of Tomorrow

Liboratory, a Winner entry of BookMark 2020, is a visionary public library architecture project by Corentin Favreau. Designed as more than a building, Liboratory reimagines the library as an adaptable civic machine, a flexible urban tool that can host reading, gathering, performance, observation, learning, and everyday social interaction.

At its core, the project asks a relevant architectural question: what should a library become when the needs of cities are constantly changing? Rather than proposing a fixed monument, Liboratory introduces an architectural design that behaves like a toolbox for public life. It can receive programmatic boxes, adapt to different activities, and transform itself according to the changing cultural, social, and spatial needs of its users.

A Public Library Architecture Rooted in Girona

The project is located in Girona, a medium-sized city with a privileged geographic and cultural position. The design boards position Girona between Barcelona, Perpignan, Andorra, and France, emphasizing its role as a connector within a broader regional network. The city is described as both historic and active, shaped by its old town, its university population, its cathedral, and its tourism routes.

Liboratory does not ignore this urban condition. Instead, it uses the city as the basis for architectural design. The proposed site works as a belvedere, located near the mountains and connected to the historical route that links the train station, the city center, Plaça de Catalunya, the old town, the university, the cathedral, and the Muralla. This makes the project both a destination and a transition point.

By occupying a strategic elevated site, Liboratory becomes an observatory over Girona. It gives residents and visitors a new way to see the city, not only through books and cultural programs, but also through physical perspective. The library becomes a viewing platform, a public room, and a civic landmark.

From Conventional Library to Liboratory

The name Liboratory combines the idea of a library with the logic of a laboratory. This is not a silent container of books. It is a place of experimentation.

The project reinterprets the conventional library program and transforms it into a flexible public equipment system. Instead of treating library functions as static rooms, Liboratory organizes them as modular programmatic components. Reading, observing, relaxing, gathering, performing, and making can all occur within the same architectural framework.

This shift is important. In traditional public library architecture, spaces are often predetermined and fixed. In Liboratory, the program can evolve. Bookboxes can move. Open spaces can be appropriated. The upper platform can host different public activities. The structure can support multiple urban scenarios.

The result is a public library that behaves less like a finished object and more like an evolving civic infrastructure.

Architectural Design as an Urban Toolbox

Liboratory is designed as a high-tech and low-tech object at the same time. Its main structure is permanent, but its program is flexible. The design uses a raised platform, structural columns, connected networks, bookboxes, flexible beams, and service spaces to create a system that can be assembled, modified, and reused.

This architectural design works through a clear technical logic. The permanent structure carries hydraulic and electrical networks. The perforated beams accommodate lighting, exhibition rails, and technical ducts. The bookboxes are placed on casters, allowing them to be moved, rearranged, and stored in the service center.

The project is described as a “making machine.” This idea is central to its identity. Liboratory is not only a space where culture is consumed. It is a space where culture is produced, shared, tested, and transformed.

A Flexible Program for Changing Cities

One of the strongest aspects of Liboratory is its ability to accommodate different uses without losing its architectural identity. The visual boards show multiple scenarios: a conventional library, a 100-seat amphitheater, public gatherings, yoga sessions, markets, performances, outdoor cinema, and social events.

This makes the project highly relevant to contemporary public space architecture. Cities increasingly need civic structures that can serve multiple communities and adapt over time. Liboratory responds by offering large free spaces for appropriation and smaller mobile components that can support specific functions.

The library becomes a civic stage. It can host a reader in the morning, a workshop in the afternoon, a market in the evening, and a performance at night. Its value lies in this capacity for transformation.

Public Space Architecture with a View

The project’s elevated position gives it a strong relationship with Girona’s landscape. The observatory rises above the main platform, reaching toward the maximum permitted height. This vertical element strengthens the project’s identity and reinforces the connection between the urban fabric and the surrounding geography.

The design does not simply place a library on a site. It uses the site’s height, views, and urban route as part of the architectural experience. The belvedere becomes a civic device. People can climb, observe, gather, and understand the city from a new angle.

This relationship between architecture and view is crucial. Liboratory gives the library a symbolic role as a place of knowledge, but also a physical role as a lookout point. The act of seeing becomes part of the act of learning.

A Library That Federates Interaction

Liboratory is described as equipment designed to catalyze and federate interactions between users. This social ambition is visible in the project’s open plan, its amphitheater, its movable bookboxes, and its generous public platform.

The design encourages people to meet without forcing a single behavior. Users can read privately, attend events, watch performances, participate in workshops, or simply occupy the platform as public space. The library becomes a social condenser, where different rhythms of urban life can coexist.

This is where the project becomes more than a formal exercise. Its architectural design is deeply connected to civic life. It understands that the future of the library depends not only on books, but also on exchange, accessibility, participation, and adaptability.

Juror Comment: Understanding the Site and Public Space

Juror Eduardo Aizenman praised Liboratory as the “Best project in understanding the site and creating true public space.”

This comment captures the strength of the proposal. Liboratory succeeds because it does not treat the library as an isolated building. It understands the site as part of a larger urban sequence and transforms that position into a genuine public asset.

The project’s success comes from the balance between context and flexibility. It responds to Girona’s geography, cultural routes, and civic needs while creating a structure that can evolve beyond a single program.

A Global Tool for Cities

The final boards expand Liboratory beyond Girona. They imagine the project as a network of flexible equipment for cities around the world. The proposal suggests possible futures: a public library with a view in 2020, a public space in 2030, and a mixed-use building in 2040.

This future-facing vision gives the project additional depth. Liboratory is not only a local architectural intervention. It is a prototype for adaptable urban infrastructure. If a city needs a library, the structure can support one. If it later needs a public park, event venue, or mixed-use facility, the system can evolve.

This makes Liboratory a resilient model for cities facing uncertain cultural, economic, and social needs.

Liboratory by Corentin Favreau proposes a compelling answer to the future of public library architecture. It rejects the idea of the library as a fixed container and instead presents it as a flexible, modular, and interactive civic tool.

As a Winner entry of BookMark 2020, the project stands out for its understanding of site, public space, and programmatic adaptability. It uses architectural design to create a library that can observe the city, serve its residents, host multiple activities, and transform over time.

Liboratory is not only a library of books. It is a library of possibilities. It shows how architecture can become a living framework for knowledge, culture, interaction, and urban change.