AN/DS submitted a Design Proposal dubbed as the ‘FREELIBRARY’ for a Design Competition held in 2013. It was developed as a social design to promote literacy and the love for knowledge by providing a space for reading, learning and gathering.
The Project Description
FREELIBRARY is both temporary and permanent product that intends to give low-‐cost-house communities a library that is within their reach. It utilises the ground floor open space of low-cost multistorey flats. In order to regenerate the ‘wasted’ space underneath the flats, active communal activity had to be created.
With current children and adult libraries that are only accessible by private transport, in far-‐off places and closed on weekends, the FREELIBRARY are reachable by many within the community.
FREELIBRARY requires the community to assemble the boxes into functional forms between concrete columns underneath low-cost flats. The boxes are made from sturdy and durable plywood material that can be manufactured by local carpenters. The plywoods are mortised at each end and fixed together using a strong adhesive to create a sturdy rectangular box. Each box has 20mm screw gaps for inserting special bolts to fasten the boxes together.
Boxes are stacked as part of the strategy to save storage spaces during transportation. Therefore, the height of the boxes varies and requires that the arrangement of boxes be in the correct horizontal layout as per their group of sizes. As part of the scheme, the boxes are prepackaged in configurations that are modular in size for ease of handling.
FREELIBRARY is designed to be modular for the communities to configure spaces themselves. It can be disassembled, constructed elsewhere as required and reusable as other purposes. Instead of disposing the boxes, the plywood can be recycled to be used as chip woods in the furniture industry. Besides creating an outdoor and public library, the FREELIBRARY can be commercialized for use at homes and offices.
FREELIBRARY concept hopes to create awareness on the importance of books for knowledge as well as giving non-privilege children and adults a chance to possess their own book collection in a community. Therefore consistent community programs are required for books to be donated to the FREELIBRARY as well as events to occur around activities related. This ensures that Malaysian people and communities are exposed to wide range of knowledge for us to compete with other developing countries.
‘Now Everybody Can Read’ with the FREELIBRARY.
If you are interested in engaging and working with us on your next project, please contact us.