EOYS 2011 GSAPP
Welcome to our library. This collection is composed by 600 volumes and 12 titles whose authors are the students from the Core II Studio orchestrated by Cristina Goberna at the first year of the M. Arch program at the GSAPP. This class was devoted to the scrutiny of public libraries. The starting point was a piece of literary fiction —selected by each student—in which a library played a main role. From the interpretation of these written architectures, each person identified a question that could defy the concept of the library and which got developed in a series of intensive formal, representational and theatrical exercises. The result of the development of these questions is the design of 12 buildings that will challenge the typology of the library as it is commonly understood.
The pedagogical structure of the studio included four goals intended to push students away from their comfort zone: The identification of an architectural problem, the clear articulation in its written and oral description, radical graphic experimentation and overall boldness in design. They were obtained by endless exercises of concept redefinition, theatrical workshops—with a professional actor—, short time constrained exercises of design, constant public interpretations of the work of other students, weekly pin ups—often with guests critics—, the reading and comment of a list of precious books, the study of the architecture of contemporary libraries, the construction and deconstruction of graphic narratives and more.
The results are in front of you: One book per polemic and one polemic per design.
We are pleased to invite you to explore our collection; we hope it will seduce you to think—hopefully about libraries. Please take or books with you; it is our present to future readers.
Project: Installation at the EOYS 2011 GSAPP
Status: Completed
Client: GSAPP Columbia University
Location: New York, NY
Program: Installation
