- Greenbuild 2024
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The open-sided Microlibrary Fibonacci appears like an ‘urban ruin’ in a public park, as if reclaimed by nature, a visual metaphor both playful and attractive in a city short on public amenities for the youth.
The project is part of a larger initiative known as the “100 Microlibraries” programme, created by the design firm SHAU. It seeks to help boost literacy in Indonesia by introducing small-scale learning facilities into dense urban contexts.
SHAU set up the programme in 2012 to implement a network of community-run micro-libraries across Southeast Asia. This typology is intended to bridge the gap between mobile ‘books-on-wheels’ libraries and larger city-scale institutions.
Each micro-library is undertaken with different partners and funding models. It experiments with material, social and climatic strategies in architecture to address the needs of the community it is intended for. Eight of these micro-libraries have already reached various stages of completion; several more are on the way.
The Microlibrary Fibonacci will be nestled amongst the trees of Citarip Park, in the city of Bandung (Java, Indonesia). As a meeting ground for the vicinity, the facility could also be used to host arts and crafts events.
The pavilion features a lightweight corrugated metal roof propped on four columns. Each column is made of concrete ribs arranged in a spiral pattern, similar to the Fibonacci sequence.
To ensure that the structure is easily assembled with local skill sets, SHAU employed a “file-to-craft” approach to ease workflow from the drawing board to the construction site with the aid of the parametric design software Grasshopper 3D.
The digital model makes use of modular ribs to simplify the assembly process onsite and lessens the need for customised building components.
During construction, the ribs are aligned to generate varying sizes and geometries of columns, with minimal impact on the existing terrain.
To eliminate the need to transport heavy prefabricated modules to site, the pavilion relies instead on insulated shotcrete panels, cast in-situ by spraying liquid concrete onto a metal mesh.
The addition of the micro-library will benefit an active urban green space, complementing existing activities and offering shelter from the elements. Placing the structure in a park with footfall also improves accessibility.
SHAU envisions it to be open on all sides, subverting the conventional idea of a sealed library. It would blend in with the surrounding landscape and allow visitors to access it from any direction.
The columns are designed to be hollow and programmatically functional. They provide space for a mushola (prayer room), a kiosk and two toilets.
The columns housing the toilets are oriented outwards to be accessible to park users at all times, while the prayer room and kiosk will have restricted access.
The design also includes a green roof, tempered glass skylights, synthetic grass flooring and a ceiling of cultivated moss to bring the park’s greenery inwards. The roof is the key component of the building’s passive climatic strategy: the soil on it will retain moisture which will cool its surface.
SHAU’s micro-libraries are acts of urban acupuncture, wherein small, well-crafted interventions offer healing and regeneration to their neighbourhoods. The programme illustrates how various urban contexts might be holistically improved through effective design strategies and bottom-up thinking.
Recognising the scalability of the wider approach, the jury of the Holcim Awards Asia Pacific 2017-18 awarded the Microlibrary Fibonacci the Silver prize. Read more about this learning centre on the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction page here.
Post sponsored by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction
A Novel project is innovative in one or two ways, say, material use, passive design, community engagement, etc. Performance, here, might be discussed in quantitative or qualitative ways.
Under the Köppen climate classification, these are ‘A’ climate types. Tropical climates have warm, moist conditions year-round, with high precipitation and narrow diurnal temperature swings. These climates occur typically between 15° N to 15° S latitude. Here, the available net solar radiation is large and relatively constant from month to month resulting in both high temperatures (generally above 18° C/64° F) and a virtual absence of thermal seasons. In many locations, annual rhythm is provided by the occurrence of wet and dry seasons.
There are no performance metrics for this project.
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