Abstract:
The city of Islamabad contains a number of libraries, both public and institutional, yet they are declining in use due to the lack of adaptation to the digital era. This neglect has caused the libraries to become static in nature, through the passage of time, resulting in the absence of the library culture amongst the users of the city. My thesis focuses on creating a library, centered around its users, within the National University of sciences and technology in Islamabad. It directs its attention towards creating a balance between formal and informal spaces to adapt to the current age of libraries. It is formed by creating multiple zones of public, private and semi-private spaces, and overlapping them to create in-between spaces that become an essential part of the informal zone of the library. Interactions between users are encouraged through the use of social spaces, yet the design allows for private spaces for self-learning, and group learning, without interruptions. The informal programs of the library promote the use of the more formal programs of the library, thus creating a duality between the formal and informal. The nature of the formal and informal spaces have architectural connotations attached to them. The design also creates linkages between the built and unbuilt and plays off of the duality between them. The external zone of the design, next to the NUST Lake, becomes an active social zone, where impromptu performances and other informal activities can take place. The overall design synthesis includes a culmination of formal, informal and interactive zones, which work together to create a library balanced in its traditional and formal nature.
