PS 42 Robin Hood Foundation Library
The design envisions the library environment as an interim landscape: a fluid series of adaptable settings.
This renovated library for a public elementary school in Queens rethinks the place and purpose of the library within the school. Organized and funded by the Robin Hood Foundation, this pro-bono project is part of a 10-school pilot study.
The design envisions the library environment as an interim landscape: a fluid series of adaptable settings. A curvilinear wall thick with books winds through the space. A curtain printed with a large word search can be drawn shut to enclose a smaller storytelling area and rolling bookshelves can stack to one side of the library to creating one large space. Custom-designed rolling ottomans can be arranged in a variety of playful settings.
A winding wood-paneled wall, conceived as a "book worm," holds volumes and reading alcoves.
Movable furniture pieces, such as custom-designed rolling ottomans, provide full flexibility to rearrange the space as wanted.
A movable theater scrim with random texts designed by Pentagram provides an intimate and flexible reading area within the main library space.
Formerly a gymnasium, the library includes a new perimeter wall that wanders among existing columns, creating study niches, reading alcoves, and maximizing book display.
The school's previous library was a converted fourth-floor classroom that was physically and visually isolated from the core of the elementary school's activities. The library was relocated to the ground floor giving it a more central role in the school's daily rhythms.
With its detailed prosaic materials, varied lighting, broad windows, and multiple computer stations, the library is a place that encourages learning and social interaction.