Abshar Boarding Library

Academic Project | Participated as a Team | My Work: Research and Design | 2018

My Experience

By seeing libraries built around the world, I thought that if there were similar buildings in my city, would there still be a deep rift between my compatriots and study spaces as it is today?

Obviously, in all libraries of Iran, only two factors of allocating space for studying and proper lighting have been considered as only facts to notice. Libraries whose identities are nothing but pale white desks and walls. Another issue is the existence of the order. Order in study spaces, although organizing the readers’ minds, can quickly become tedious and reduce the impact of the study.

Two Main Issues

My experience of study spaces in Iran and my city of Isfahan dates back to high school. One day in the middle of spring, I was studying in a modern library in Isfahan where I saw mothers who could not bring their children with themselves and study at the same time because they were noisy and could not be in the same space. Also, the whiteness of papers and the grey environment had made me tired and exhausted that I used to go outside and spend some time having a coffee in a relatively remote region.

Site selection

Choosing a site was a simple but important topic. The simplicity of this choice was because, in Isfahan, the best place to build significant and usable buildings for the public is on the banks of the city’s great river, the Zayandeh River. The importance of the subject can be examined from two aspects. One is the popularity of this place to the public, and the other is its location next to other old urban symbols such as historic bridges. So, why not put a library in this crucial part of my city, making it a prominent element?

The site’s potential, which was near an old monument belonging to the Qajar period, made me think about artists and the spaces they use.

The goals I had in mind before starting the project included the following:

1. Creating open spaces for reading and chatting (personal experience)

2. Creating semi-open spaces for reading and chatting (personal experience)

3. Creating space for all sections of society from children to middle-aged (personal experience)

4. Attention to art and artists familiar with this area

I tried to create a library that would be spacious to fit in with the surrounding context instead of increasing in height on several floors like the river in front of the context.

Design

The design process required the study of various regulations, which included the available resources and essential handbooks in space design, daylight design, artificial lighting, and green space design. It helped to form the spaces before and during the design.

The library’s design was initially divided into three main parts allocated to children, adults, and maintenance.

Children can listen to stories, play, and relax in their rooms in the space provided for them. Spaces were also provided for parents to monitor them. The volume of these spaces was reduced to maintain the relationship between these two parts. The spaces that were foreseen in the section for children are:

1. Painting room

2. Storytelling room

3. Restroom

4. Cafe

5. Classrooms

Next, the adult section was divided into five general sections, which were scattered in height codes 7m and 10m:

1. Silent study spaces

2. Open space study spaces that I call restudy.

3. Recreation and relaxation spaces (cafeteria)

4. Educational facilities

5. Exhibition and shop space for artists