Pinocchio children's library

CTU in Prague - Faculty of Civil Engineering

Project idea

Wooden puppet, little rascal - Pinocchio. His journey to knowledge, or wisdom if we wish, being written into the whole structure of the object, consequently its immediate surroundings. The child is left free for his vices throughout the property, the same principle is also written into the parterre of the building. It integrates the whole territory and overcomes the morphological barriers.

Project description

The child has to make a journey of exploration, which should result in wisdom, acquiring new knowledge and deepening the old. These properties are represented by the basic element of libraries in general - the volume of books. Not quality nor quantity matters. These volumes, sources of information and knowledge are concentrated in austere tubes, iconic tubes, which reflect solitary local construction grouped into spatial units.
The individual tubes "bound" by the cut underground floor with their brutality stand out from the surrounding buildings. Their urbanistic structure - the ideal grouping of solitary objects is , however, based on local conditions. Purpose. A follow-up to old structures with a clear definition of origin.
An iconic structure, but humble. It does not try to outweigh the surroundings, the difference creates a working connection with the historical layers. It breathes a new life into them, gives them space to become apparent because they contrast with new objects. Although they ceased to serve their function, they obtained new mission with the necessary interventions while preserving their original form.

Technical information

The dominant and ubiquitous material is concrete, which occurs everywhere in its pure - exposed - form. Bareness, truthfulness and brutality create sufficient protection of books and their contents from the outside world.

Co-authors