Architects SHAU Bandung’s micro-library is made from 2,000 upcycled plastic ice-cream buckets that ventilate the air naturally.
Designed to be a hub for the neighbourhood, the Taman Bima micro-library in Bandung, Indonesia, is fronted with 2,000 used ice-cream buckets. Created by architects SHAU Bandung with community input, the library is one of several pilot projects aimed at reversing the country’s falling literacy rate.
SHAU’s mission is to rekindle interest in books by offering a dedicated place for reading and learning, by making books, other media and courses available, as well as offering a sense of identity and a source of pride for local people. The activities and teaching are currently supported and organized by the charitable organization Dompet Dhuafa (Pocket for the Poor) and the Indonesian Diaspora Foundation. However, the ultimate goal is to enable the local people to organize the content and maintenance of the building independently.
The micro-library is located at Taman Bima, in a small square in a village near the airport. It sits between a middle-class neighbourhood and a less affluent one. The Taman Bima micro-library is the first realized prototype of a series of small libraries in different locations, which the architects plan to build throughout Indonesia.
The tiny structure is packed with multiple levels of meaning and sustainability. At street level, the space is open for multipurpose public use and has long rows of stairs for additional outdoor seating. The second level of the building is the library, which is clad in 2,000 used ice-cream buckets. This recycled wall material provides ventilation and daylight. Through a mix of open and closed buckets, the wall design spells out, in binary coding, ‘Books are the windows to the world.’
The building comprises a simple steel structure made from I-beams with concrete slabs for floor and roof. The pre-existing stage on which the library was constructed was already used by the local community for gatherings, events, socializing and sports activities. The stage was reworked in concrete and a wide stair added. As the building is in a tropical climate, the architects included air conditioning to make the interior a pleasant space to be.
The used ice cream buckets that create the façade were being sold cheaply, locally and in bulk. Mounting 2,000 buckets, making the fixture and punching out bottoms of more than half of them was a time-consuming task, made simpler by the local craftsmen who fashioned their own, simple dedicated tools.
Not only does the façade give additional meaning to the building in the form of binary code, but the buckets also generate a pleasant indoor light ambience since they scatter direct sunlight and act as natural light bulbs. The buckets are affixed in between the vertical steel ribs that span the height of the building from floor to roof and that are inclined towards the outside to repel rainwater. During more extreme tropical weather conditions, sliding doors on the inside can be temporarily closed.
Increasing accessibility through miniaturization is a popular solution. Another example of this is Powerhive, which provides electricity to rural homes in Africa using microgrids.
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Website: www.shau.nl
Contact: info@shau.nl
Company name: SHAU Bandung
Innovation name: Taman Bima micro-library
Country: Indonesia
Industries: Design / Education / Non-profit & social cause / Smart cities