Material Connections: Skin

Throughout our studio we’ve been focusing on learning space: spaces that learn and this project was focused on the skin of a structure. We investigated materials for our particular library after finishing the structure assignment. We had to propose four different materials for the inside that abided by different constraints such as being in production prior to 1950, being put out in the market in the past year, one material from our precedent library, and lastly a material in which the surface area is mostly blue. The entire time I was selecting materials I was thinking about how the materials would connect and ultimately the application in which they would be used. I chose carpet, wood, acoustic tiles and structural glass and I thought they were relatively conservative but modern enough and had an overall aesthetic I was interested in pursuing. The carpet would be used on the floor mostly in the group areas of the library and where more absorption would help and the wood flooring would be laid out throughout the stacks area of the library. Acoustical tiles would be applied on the ceiling and provide another layer for sound to be absorbed by and the structural glass would run along what is now the corridor in the music library. If the library is something we can be proud about why conceal it, my mission is to provide a space that is celebrated and that when students pass by you are intrigued by and want to investigate it further.