The Conceptual Basis for Library Design
"Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities." - David R Lankes
The conceptual basis for library design is predicated on people - user experience, the community, and its workers. The rewards of transforming libraries into great public spaces are numerous. Excellent libraries are necessary for communities and impact their success. Learn more about the basis for good community and public library design with studioTECHNE.
Table of Contents
User Experience in Libraries
The Community
How studioTECHNE Helped Heights Knowledge & Innovation Center
User Experience in Libraries
Our lives are cluttered with a sea of information and we are often challenged in navigating through the environments in which we live, work, learn and plan. Nowadays, we are assaulted with vague wayfinding and design - unclear directions, traffic signs, and cryptic programming information.
Unfortunately, no one expects every activity that we engage in to be fun or simple. However, we should at least be able to understand where we need to go to find the information we are seeking without feeling like idiots.
User experience is defined as the process in which designers and teams create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. For architects, user experience is a quintessential component and consideration in our work. Better user experiences distinguish the libraries that our team designs. We work with our clients to design patron-focused solutions that are based on the experience and tasks the user wants to accomplish - rather than systems or technology.
Our firm takes a pragmatic and sensitive approach - seeking to understand and solve the struggles of both the staff and patrons. Our job is to integrate the three key aspects of the library experience: the physical, the digital, and the human, into a seamless user-centered approach that makes intuitive sense for patrons of all ages.
The Community
Libraries must be an extension of the community; they should be the town’s “front porch”. As a component of each community, the library will be a critical part of life-long learning for its patrons. It will function in its true civic role - as a place where celebrations are held, where exchanges both social and economic take place, and where cultures mix.
Proper community and public library design will create a valued place that brings the public together as they belong to communities. Cities and neighborhoods with thriving libraries benefit from a strong sense of community. We work to develop a quality of space within the library that helps develop this sense of community as well as a strong interaction between the library and its patrons.
Not only do better public spaces enrich the lives of the people who use them, they also make surrounding neighborhoods more desirable, attracting investment and spurring revitalization. They endow the library with credibility and prestige -- not just visually, but also by providing a sense of character and a forum for public activity. They anchor downtowns and communities and act as a source of shared identity and foundations for healthy growth.
How studioTECHNE Helped Heights Knowledge & Innovation Center
Cleveland Heights-University Heights (CHUH) came to studioTECHNE for help with the development and design of the CHUH Library and the Heights Knowledge & Innovation Center(HKIC). Through a series of Charrette planning exercises and meetings with community members, faculty, stakeholders, and patrons, we were able to identify their needs and pain points which resulted in a library redesign that would support the technological and workspace needs of local businesses, nonprofits, and other individuals.
Interested in seeing more projects? View Our Library Projects!
