The first sentence of this article was a light-bulb-turning-on-above-the-head moment, of course any library built before even the late 90's wouldn't have the exorbitant amount of outlets I expect to libraries to have- but I certainly never thought of that before. With the advent of not only lap tops and cell phones, but eReaders, tablets, and mp3 players- all since I graduated from high school- libraries are scrambling to get enough outlets to meet patron's needs, what else would they be doing? I found the amount of money that putting in enough outlets cost was insane- thousands of dollars? THOUSANDS? That's scary. I'd buy the furniture with electrical outlets in it.
Shifting Spaces- Summarizes some of the discussions and panels at LJ's institute of design's one day seminar on library building and design, in terms of incorporating the community, technology, making the building green, etc.
The thing that I most enjoyed about the ways these ideas were discussed was how collaborative it was, different people coming at the project from different perspectives (librarian, architect, contractor, etc) thinking about the community needs and how to best fit them into the library. It made the process seem very dynamic and exciting. I also thought the comment about making the facilities green a "non issue" by just talking about the ability to offer more and using less was brilliant in it's simplicity- and should probably be use by proponents of green energy/spaces/infrastructure in general. It was pretty exciting to read the case examples too, I thought the designers were very creative and intelligent. From the different ways they engaged the community in the deign process, to building the library in segments that worked for the library's needs.
A Whole Systems Approach- This article discusses in detail the many benefits of building new libraries (any building really, but this article is specific to libraries) using a Integrated Building Design (IBD), (although it also can be called Integrative Building Design and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)).
Considering how stoked I was with Shifting Space's discussion of collaboration in the design process of new libraries, I was simply elated when reading about the IBD! I think coming from a theatre background collaboration just makes the most sense to me, as the article says it get everyone on the same page. Everyone understands the goals, the needs, and the technology better if everyone communicates the part they're contributing. Keeping the project surprise free- doesn't that sound sweet? Also, if a problem were to arise then the whole team, all of whom are think about different aspects of the project, can think of ways to solve it. Also just in terms of usability, not even just for patrons, usability by the library staff, if the library director is a part of the design process they will have an intimate understanding of the functionality of every part of the building. I don't know when/if I'll be part of the library system building a new library, but if/when that does happen to me I'm going to be so annoyingly into IBDing it up!
In response to choosing the furniture with electrical outlets in it ...
ReplyDeleteThat idea seems cool to me at first, but what about when that table/furniture is damaged and needs replacing? It seems like it would be more expensive to replace and harder to be find (though I could be wrong). Additionally, you'd be out both a table and an outlet if it was damaged. You might also have issues with spilled drinks on the tables creating a safety hazard.
I liked the idea of raised floors best, probably because this is what I'm most familiar with. I feel like it leaves the most room for future adaptations.
The Quiet Plug Crisis was also like a light bulb turning on for me. I couldn't believe I had never thought of this as an issue before even though I have experienced not having enough plugs in libraries. It's just something you expect libraries to have. I also think that raised floors is probably the way to go. That way the change is more permanent than with furniture. Although price wise, furniture is probably cheaper.
DeleteThis article was very interesting to me because of similiar activity we are experiencing with our creative and IT groups. This is a complete floor in one of our buildings...and we are making changes to update their environment...making it more collaborative and open. We have visited other marketing firms and traveled to furniture providers for the university looking at what is offered. We actually looked at the tables with the troughs/electrical plugs and etc. and considered purchasing. I expect we will do this for a few of our designers...where the need is more justified. There has been alot of thought put in to the design of this furniture and many have a piece that slides over to cover the trough, but the ability to hang the large monitors on a bracket is very attractive to us giving the designer more room on their desk/table. I know we run into a great expense with concrete floors in a fairly newly renovated building, and did not want to pay that price as mentioned in the article. But now we are headed into this really large renovation opening up and removing walls so addressing the floors will be the time. And I have to admit I found myself questioning if the raised floor might be something for us to consider. A very good article to get you thinking....and the facility issue is out there for libraries and many other professions as we are sharing in the pain. haha
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