THE LIBRARY REIMAGINED

Abstract

The thesis questions and seeks to reinterpret the role and identity of the physical library in the digital age. Libraries have traditionally been established as archives of information; its identity often synonymous to its massive physical collections. In recent years, the increased digitalization of information is undermining the significance of libraries. By connecting to the digital realm, individuals are no longer bounded by physical boundaries of space in the search for knowledge. Would the physical library therefore become obsolete, the acquisition of knowledge predominantly served by virtual and mechanised processes? In fast-paced modern society today, the efficiency granted by technology is much celebrated. The act of reading, of acquiring knowledge, however, is not valued by efficiency alone. Reading, beyond being just a mechanical process, engages the individual on an intimate, personal level. In interpreting reading as a process of self-discovery, the thesis therefore envisions the relevance of the physical library, beyond being a repository of information, to lie in the embodiment of this process in the crafting of its spaces, and explores the potential of the library as a destination, in a proposal sited on Lazarus Island, which is presently marked for the development of luxury resorts and apartments. It imagines the sequence of spaces guiding the passage of self-discovery, beginning with one’s departure from the banality of city life.