In this project, I decided to redesign the ISB MS/HS Library. Since the ES library got revamped, I looked into ways to create a common theme between the two libraries, while enhancing the overall experience of the library.

Design Concept Selection – SWOT Analysis:

After the SWOT analysis of all 3 concepts, I decided to do the Library Redesign because it’s a real place that everyone here is familiar with it’ll allow me to develop new skills. Of course, there were challenges but the pros outweighed the cons for this specific concept.

Selected Concept Design Brief:

Draft 1

Feedback

I agreed with the point Ryan made when giving feedback (make it fit with the theme/colour/style of the ES library), but it also pushed me to think further about how the styles and environments would differ because of the age, maturity and interest differences so it made me think whether or not the design could fit into the aesthetic and architectural style of ISB as a whole.

Ryan also mentioned adding additional facilities to enhance learning, which I think is a good point and will help direct my research and looking at precedents to see what facilities other school libraries may have and how they will also be beneficial to ISB libraries.

Draft 2

Draft 3 (Final)

Precedents Padlet:

 

Ideation (Furniture):

I started looking at the precedents I found, many of them were of seating. I saw one precedent where the bookshelf and seating was combined. I thought it would be interesting to see how it can be added to other forms of seating. I really liked this idea because it saves a lot of space. Unfortunately, they did not get used in my final design; I didn’t have the time to create elaborate design sketches for each of the furniture because I wanted to put the effort into making a finished design presentation that shows more of the overall layout. So, I went in a different direction and created a separate area for seating as the “concentration zone”.

Ideation (Shelves):

The one thing I knew I wanted to include on the shelves were wheels to make it easy to move and change up, and bold letter labels of genres on top of the sheves vertically. This is because the current labels of the genres in the library aren’t the most visible and it is something I knew I wanted to change. In the ideation, I sketched some sample layouts of curved shelves and straight shelves to see which I liked better. I ended up using a mixture of both since straight shelves seem more academic and formal but the curved ones seemed more free and flowy. In the final design, I put beanbags in the curved shelf region and the straight shelf section was next to the concentration zone, creating a balance.

Ideation (Layout):

Feedback:

Many people picked the floor plan that was most similar to the current ISB library, which inspired me to do the opposite. I wanted to see if I could create something completely different and new while maintaining all the features everybody loved about the current library (the main one being the café).

So, I thought of the set up of the ES library, with all the green and nature themes. Coincidentally I was reading something about colour psychology, which inspired the following:

Final Concept Development:

I really liked the centrepiece because it ties in with the ES library achieving a common theme between the two libraries, but it is also more mature and incorporates real nature, which I feel creates a really stimulating environment and changes it up from the typical classroom-like setting students experience in their day-to-day school lives. This also inspired some more research into colour psychology:

This research finalised what colours I wanted to use as the decorative flowers/things hanging from the tree setup. I also started brainstorming what my floor plan could look like with the setup.

I received feedback from Takumi & Mr Griffin about the centrepiece and the floorplan.

When Takumi said it kind of looks like a flipped version of the current library, it sort of signalled to me that it is not different enough. With Takumi’s feedback and after more consideration on how to save space, I realised I could place the cafe as a sort of countertop setting around the tree since the other side would be for the library catalogue computers and the front would be a book display. The sketches below show the simple floor plan sketch with the cafe next to the display, and finalised display colours and look.

While considering Mr Griffin’s feedback, I wondered how the tree could also maintain the idea of it being a library. I did not want to add any additional plant structures since it might take away from the educational aspect. I thought maybe you could hang book recommendations from the tree and other decorative items (butterflies in diagram as substitute); due to time, I was unable to plan out all the details of this which is really unfortunate.

Final Presentation Process:
Mr Griffin suggested for me to attempt to use Foyr for my presentation. I tried to use Affinity but it was a lot more difficult to free hand. This has to be one of my proudest achievements in the project because there were quite a few struggles I had with Foyr. It loaded at first, then kept saying the page was not responding. Sometimes it wouldn’t load and wouldn’t save the last few changes I made.

In the end, I’m extremely happy with the product. Though I did have to subsitute furniture pieces I found on Foyr for my actual envisions, I think it worked out pretty well and was able to create a finished presentation that looks somewhat professional.

Presentation PDF Link

Reflection:

This design definitely enhances the library by adding the nature element and I think by separating the study area and the cafe allows for more concentration in the study desk area. I also think this also diversifies the use of the library, though it does make me wonder is it stepping away from the true idea of a library? Ultimately, I think this does address what I had hoped to do although I would’ve preferred to be able to include more details, which sadly wasn’t possible with the time given and the scale of the project.

Overall, I’m really happy with this project because it was definitely challenging. I am most happy with the Foyr results and my presentation because I think it nicely summed up my final design using Foyr but also my own sketches. I thought it might look strange, but I’m happy with the outcome because I was also able to develop my drawing skills (seen in first slide of presentation). I would’ve liked to make this more collaborative by getting input by the people who would be using this (students, teachers etc.) but it is a little more difficult online during covid. I also wish I could’ve used photos and the floor plan of the actual library and collaborated with the librarians but it definitely isn’t as easy to accomplish online. But, I am proud of this project since I was able to stretch outside my comfort zone and create something that is pretty different from the current design. It also allowed me to develop new skills and explore this environmental design, which is definitely something I would like to explore more in the future with more time and less limitations.