This semester, the second-year Masters of Architecture students are divided into two sections. Half of us are being taught by the principals of Bade Stageberg Cox, a Brooklyn-based architecture studio. (The other studio section will be the topic of another blog post). The project brief requires the design of a new branch library for Brooklyn.
(photo + exposure: Catherine Joseph)
Located on the corner of Williamsburg’s summertime flea market, Brooklyn Flea, the space must assimilate modern and often digital ideas of a library with the continuing need, and nostalgia, for paper books. All of these considerations are also affected by the state park in which the site is located (bustling with the market during summer, cold and desolate in the winter), the connection to the urban fabric of the Williamsburg neighborhood at the street corner, and finally, the waterfront and its relationship to the Manhattan skyline.
(photo: Luke Erickson)
It’s safe to say that each of us has a different idea of what form a branch library should take, of how it should relate to the surrounding neighborhood, of how the book should be conceptualized, and of how people will flow through the space. More updates on the studio progress to follow throughout the semester…