Regeneration and Public Engagement

I began the project with a sketch of what I wanted the reading space of my library to look and feel like. From this sketch, I could see ideas generating about overall schemes and architectural aspects of the building beginning to emerge. I wanted to create a series of well-designed spaces that are serving the community.

These spaces would be housed in a generous building behind a heavy, brick arched colonnade. The colonnade will allow people to feel like part of the building without having to physically be inside. Creating this sense of shelter through the envelope of the building and inviting people into the spaces became the overarching theme of this proposal. As well as this, the views from the internal rooms out towards the river, through the arched colonnade helped to create this unique atmosphere and experience. My proposal aims to create a generous, civic place for the community, internally and externally, from within the building and

I wanted the library to become a landmark of Bristol, with a reputation of being an enjoyable place to spend time, work and read. The library itself would be a place of “third space”. This means that the atmosphere and experience created in the library will be mirroring that of both workspace and home space, while being a unique space for people to relax and enjoy. According to Ray Oldenburg, “Third places” are the informal public gathering spaces critical for the functioning civil society. My proposal occupies a key moment within St Phillips Marsh as it sits on the corner of Feeder Road. This corner has views out to various aspects of the area and is also able to be seen from many angles and approaches. This makes the corner of my building a critical aspect of design as it is the monument and focal point of the approach to the building.

Therefore, I have defined this corner in my design by upscaling the brick arches to a dramatic scale for the corner space, drawing attention to the library and inviting people in. This dramatic corner also locates the library as a landmark, grounding it to its location and adding to the civic qualities of the building.