East Harlem Library

 

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The East Harlem Library is a reaction to the role of the library in today’s culture while planning for its evolution in the foreseeable future. The library’s massing was the result of combining new ways of thinking about program with an extensive investigation of site. The building manifests itself as an interior street, whose repeated frame structure also created the bookshelves, wrapped with serpentining program both interior and exterior. The “street” condition hosts traditional analog library activity at its periphery while primarily creating space for spontaneous meeting and assembly. Around this active core are the supporting functions and places to read and study- a necessary counterpoint to the speed of the street. This wrapping program also provided the opportunity to retain the existing community garden in the form of a landscaped roof accessible from both the street and library interior.

EAST HARLEM LIBRARY
ACADEMIC (PROF. HONG)
LIBRARY
NEW YORK CITY
10,700 SF
INDIVIDUAL WORK
NY CITY
IDEA