The light side of the moon

We started our work with a hole in our minds. A really round hole, to be exact. From the very beginning, for unknown reasons we knew that we wanted to create something sphere-like. Some time has passed, some odd attempts were made, and suddenly it dawned on us. Was the moon waiting for us to simply look up to the sky? Or a favourite Pink Floyd’s album to be taken up from a shelf? The secret of the dark side of the moon has come to us as a perfect metaphor of what reading is and what purpose libraries actually serve. There was only one exception. Why must the hidden be so obviously called dark?

In our project we focus on what’s unseen. We make the hidden part a light one to encourage readers to pick up the gauntlet and open their minds to the unknown; to what’s inside of every part of life. 

pictures of our first "odd attempts"

The micro library was made with the idea of easily placing it into a city. We thought of making use of blank walls making it easy to bring the library into line with other buildings or any place wherever people would need to take a breather. We also wanted our sphere to “float” above the streets just as the moon does. To do so we splitted our concept in half and attached ropes and a simply-built metal staircase to it. It made the idea stand out while still telling the story it was made for.

When deciding on a half-globe shape we wanted to stay true to it. In accordance with that, all parts of our interior resulted from the library's form. Racks, stairs helping with reaching the highest shelves, three desks with chairs and an armchair hidden between books, so that everything „circulates around the circle”. We also thought of separating the working place from the reading space so we interposed these spaces on different levels.

Whole project was carried out and kept in a white colour. We went through a lot of colour combinations but at the very end kept everything white. We left only a hint of colour for the books, which are the most important, as that is what tells the stories - the culmination of the core of our idea. To achieve it but also to not make the place feel too unnatural we would’ve used white-stained wooden furniture. It encourages users to not only understand the concept better but also keeps their eye on the most important part of a library.

sketches made in a process of planning the interior

Figuring out how to make our idea come to life took us a good deal of time. At first we felt, to say the least, overwhelmed. After many brainstorms we decided to listen to our own advice and “pick up the gauntlet” by showing the concept in a handmade maquette form. We managed to find and buy a “do it yourself, transparent, christmas, decoupage, xmas, GREAT DEAL, GOOD PRICE (...)” plastic ball. To be able to fill it in we’ve chosen to start with preparing a 3D model of the whole vision based on our sketches. Through that we were able to prepare a file for a laser to cut all the needed parts in a cardboard. Then came time to put them together and paint them with a white paint (small measurements of our ball definitely weren’t helpful at these steps). We decided to keep our “books” in shades of blue to highlight them but not lose touch with the graphic vision we wanted to achieve (putting dozens of mini blue cuboids into dozens of mini white shelves with a pair of tweezers, unforgettable). For graphic purposes also, we left the staircase in its Rhino version, to not divert attention from the delicate maquette portrayal of the interior.

picture from the process of positioning micro books

After many complications, challenges and changes of mind our idea finally has come to life in a form we’re proud of. It not only accomplished its task of simply being an easily accessible urban micro library but also tells a story and leaves an important message. We put faith in what’s unseen in the first place. We invite you to do the same.