The “’Open Exchang’ proposal, for the Green Square Library and Plaza competition, creates a space of public engagement by challenging the role of the library in the contemporary city of Sydney. Designed by MODU , in collaboration with Future Green Studio landscape architects, their project becomes a social and public space made possible by new technology, with the potential to transcend the traditional definition of learning spaces. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Today’s library is no longer merely a central repository for book storage and protection. n Sydney’s temperate climate, the “Open Exchange” library and plaza breaks down the conventional borders between interior and exterior activities. The plaza can be as much a place of learning as the library can be a space of engagement. The library of “Open Exchange” is organized around a series of partially exterior spaces that traverse the building horizontally and diagonally and, like the plaza, turns indoor and outdoor relationships “inside out.” These interactive spaces, collectively called “The Feed,” initiate both natural and artificial flows through the library.
