Community Library
Sunnyside, Pretoria
This was my final 2nd year project. We had to design a library for community use, in the city of Pretoria. The site is allocated on the corner of Nelson Mandela Dr and Rissik Street. The abandoned stand north of the old Breytenbach Theatre. The site was the perfect spot for this communal library because of its great location, within close vicinity of UNISA and public schools.
The idea behind my design was to create an important node for the community to use, by opening up and responding to the surrounding negative spaces. A strong axis is formed by the design and projected onto the public realm on the western side of the site. Asserting a strong circulation and movement tone into the urban fabric.
Site Section
The aim of the axis was also to open up routes to the library and thus making it more accessible for the surrounding schools. The same concept also informed the design on building scale, where each space that was created, responds to the landscape or urban fabric of the city, by suggesting that it's flowing/ merging with what is happening outside.
Playing with the idea of accessibility and being open from the outside and visually connected to the outside from the inside, the actual space is much more private and the users are actually separated from the busy city and noise that comes with it, but still begin part of it.
