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Architects: Chiangmai Life Architects
- Area: 392 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Markus Roselieb, Alberto Cosi
Text description provided by the architects. The Secondary School Library at Panyaden International School was designed to create an inspiring, peaceful, and comfortable atmosphere for teenage students to read and study. It provides traditional spaces with tables but also lounge-like spaces with a more relaxed setting decorated with bean bags and pillows.
The design is a circle with a central sunken pod featuring an eye to the sky through the skylight above, surrounded in concentric circles first by built-in small working tables and then by a bamboo archway that houses the main bookshelf section. These bookshelves will be radially oriented with various kinds of study spaces in between. The sunken pod with its cathedral-like feeling is also popular for group discussions and readings.
The library also houses 2 noise-insulated study rooms for group sessions and a small office for the librarian. The walls are made of earthen adobe bricks and the roof is made of bamboo. The bamboo roof is designed in 2 levels; the upper level is a reciprocal roof design with each structural bamboo culm supporting the next without the need for supporting pillars. At the very top is a skylight cupola providing daylight to the whole library below.
The library is equipped with a state-of-the-art central cooling system that gently trickles cold air down without the uncomfortable feeling of a cold air current. It is also fitted with a fresh air system, that during the burning season provides ultra clean air by blowing filtered air from the outside into the room thus creating a positive pressure that prevents polluted air from entering when the door is opened. This system is also useful during other seasons as it continually provides fresh oxygen thus creating an optimal room climate for studying.
