Cooks and Books / BArch YR02
Overview:
“What, after all, is culture? A process of cultivation, which depends on the transition from outdoors to in, raw to cooked” - Peter Conrad.
Our concluding project in second year was a choice among five different briefs. I deliberated between an artist’s studio and a café, library hybrid called ‘Cooks and Books’. I choose the latter based on the current issues at the time. The government had been attempting to balance the national budget, which was causing a number of libraries to face the pressure of closure. The project also enabled us to explore the roots of culture and design propositions for sustainable futures. The concept of these new generation of libraries, focuses on community well-being rather than the individual reader. Features that can encourage this are easy access, open plan meeting spaces and sharing spaces with other services. Book shops are taking this initiative by developing partnerships between café retailers such as Costa and Starbucks. There is a transformation emerging from the original silent studying, to conversation and sharing our research.
The site for this project is an existing car park located next to Lincoln Castle. It is bounded by the castle walls and the entrance ramp, a restaurant and public toilets. Located in the heart of Lincoln’s tourist quarter, there are a range of events that also occur throughout the year which need to be considered. Requirements for the proposal were an area with <400m², 1:2 space ratio of library to cafe services, circulation spaces and outdoor spaces. I also wanted to restrict the design to a ground floor due to the view of the castle and the veterans memorial grave located in front of the walls. This forced me to experiment with different masses; trying to create an intimate connection between the three functions of a cafe, library and public garden. People’s movements and natural lighting were major characteristics to my design.
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