Maastricht University Library Wall

In the slipstream of the international biennale vacancy and re-use of buildings an educational programme was organized for (interior) design students from the Euregion. Five student teams competed for The Great Expectation Award 2011 for the best student interior realized within the Education Programme. Designing temporary spaces was the theme of this year.

Nominees of The great indoors award, another activity of the biennale chose the prize winning project.

The design of a temporary library (Client: Maastricht University Library) was one of the five projects. The other assignments were: Temporary Hotel (Client: Camille Oostwegel), A Pop-up Fashion Store (Client: Kiki Niesten), a Temporary Park (Client: REcentre)and An Outdoor Security booth (Client: Student fraternity Circumflex). The prize winning design was the Temporary Park.

The design of the temporary library shows the tension between the classical library and the digital library. How can the digital library be made tactile and attractive? How can the development of knowledge be shown in the rapid world of today? And how can we share knowledge? These are the questions the students asked themselves. The result was ‘FaceBooks’, a recording booth, where an expert in total privacy could tell about a specific subject area. The recording was shown by means of a book (with the feeling and appearance of a real book and the possibility to leaf through it), laying open on a study table. The beamer was designed in the form of a traditional desk lamp. Students could add comments or tell about their knowledge on this subject by entering the recording booth themselves.

A very inspiring concept. The University library is planning to obtain the design and the furniture and use it in the buildings of the university. With Maastricht University experts talking about specific subjects and students giving a reaction … a stepping stone in the development of the future library.

Photo impression of the temporary library: