An inclusive space to foster the love of reading.

This Library, at Canossa Convent Primary School, posed a tricky problem very familiar to inclusive designers. The students wanted to share a common space, but with divergent needs that were sometimes in conflict. To tackle this “wicked” problem, we partnered with the school to define a collection of reader-personalities. 

Many students have hearing impairments, and seem most comfortable in an acoustically “damp” environment without echo. Others have difficulty focusing in quiet conditions—needing a certain background hum to stay tuned in. Some move and fidget, to “quiet” their bodies while reading or listening to stories. To address this contradiction, the spaces of the Library needed to be internally heterogeneous: to become a collection of spaces within spaces.

Overall, the environment is calm, allowing for the visual chaos of a library (its many books and accoutrements) to co-exist in a simple frame. Display tables for genres of books have a distinctive shape, allowing early readings to spin a dial and find more of the kind of books that appeal to them. Views across the segments of the Library’s space are maintained throughout. 

All images by Khoo Guo Jie