Museums and Libraries: The Latest Architecture and News

Tucson, Arizona firm Line and Space recently shared with us their competition proposal for the new National Museum of Afghanistan developed over the summer of 2012. Inspired by the basin and range geology of Kabul and incredible archaeology, the design features architecture that is derived from Afghan soil by means of stone clad conical elements rising from the landscape that are evocative of an atypical approach to the standard museum typology. Designed to provide a dramatic yet serene and secure place for visitors to learn about the country’s amazing and complex history, the various strategies employed by Line and Space offer up some interesting concepts that celebrate the incredible treasures housed within. More details after the break.

The design proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library aim towards becoming a knowledge based city by putting a strong emphasis on the multiple roles of a library as a knowledge based center accessible to all. Designed by wHY Architecture & Design, their project is based on the concept and form of an opened book. The library unfolds to the public green space, engages the landscape into a continuous surface, and invites people to activate and share the space to facilitate knowledge. More images and architects’ description after the break.

This proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library by Martin Fenlon Architecture aims to be an efficient, sustainable, yet bold response to the program which is articulated in a form that is shaped by the space it sits within. The designs focuses on being both a resource of accumulated information and a public space to be enjoyed by the local residents. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Motor Sports Complex Museum, which is located next to a new race track and a dragster speedway, is another component of the development in Kuwait City. Designed by Marc Anton Dahmen / Studio DMTW, its main function is to be a public showroom for the King‘s private collection of vintage racing cars. Besides the main exhibition hall with approximately 50 cars, it also houses a pit building including a garage for restaurant, a driving school for kids, a small conference center, a cinema and some private VIP spaces. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Titled ‘Standing Shelves’, the design concept for the Daegu Gosan Public Library agrees that people are in need of finding places to sit and get relaxed for getting information from books, magazines, articles, etc. Thus, the expanded program for the local community by providing classrooms, an exhibition area, lecture room, semi‐private reading areas, digital data corner, etc. will be another major change in the current library system. TheeAe LTD believes not in a dramatic way, but strongly, the new design of a space that should convey this change in a way to enhance and motivate the public to come and enjoy the use of a library. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Not long ago the library was thought of as a huge archive, a storage of human knowledge. Now, all human knowledge is just information that after being digitalized can fit into the pocket. Therefore, FORMA aims toward the accessibility of information and etherealization of knowledge. Also, the concept of information (being shared) is wider than the concept of knowledge (being rather stored than shared), which means the space and activities in the library should become significantly more diverse. Not only does it share information, but also provides an intelligent pastime for local community and sets space for live communication between people. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Land+Civilization Compositions and Impressively Simple, their proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library, titled ‘Open Source’, is consciously not a singular gesture, but more as a series of interpretable spaces. Previously libraries were seen as places to gain access to books, but this library provides places for the dissemination and sharing of knowledge. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library competition, designed by École Architects and AAKAA, consists of a massive cubic construction, in stark contrast with the surrounding cityscape. The singularity and unexpected nature of this landmark building is legible at once, without, however, bearing the trace of any logo, or distinctive sign of its function. It is its absence of obvious identity – its apparent neutrality and slickness – that consecrates it as a singular landmark. The library projects no further identity than its mass. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by STL Architects, the new Daegu Gosan Public Library focuses on the evolution of the role of the library in regard to the new ways we now learn and teach. With extensive amounts of information, that could historically only be accessed in and from a library, being readily available to nearly anyone, this library will be a place where people come to live and vast knowledge resources are more than stereo-typical encyclopedias. Instead of libraries being generically thought of as a dusty place where books come to age and be seldom used, this library will be a place where social interaction is the essence of existence. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by JBAD (Jonathan Barnes Architecture and Design), the proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library proposes to simply, and radically, invert the conventional relationship of public space, circulation and access. In doing so, the public space typically defined and confined as interior, enclosed space becomes externalized, extroverted, stretched, and reformed. With their ”INversion’ concept, the way of interpreting the library as structure and space provides an opportunity to create exterior public space in ways that are both more integrated with the library’s functions and more connected to its urban context. More images and architects’ description after the break.