library@orchard scores with books and looks

24 Oct 2014

The Straits Times, 24 Oct 2014 - The library@orchard opened yesterday at Orchard Gateway. It is the first public library to seek and integrate public feedback into its design, collection and services. The National Library Board worked with 30 students and lecturers from SP to understand library users’ needs and looking at feedback from more than 1,000 members of the public to come up with ideas such as interactive book shelves and noobs for library-goers to read in solitude, called Cocoons. In the Lianhe Zaobao’s report, SP senior lecturer and lead consultant for the project Mr. Gareth Lai commented that as some people use the library as a temporal escape from the reality, the Cocoons are designed to create a private space within a public domain, offering library-goers a moment of privacy. In the The New Paper’s report, SP Diploma in Architecture graduate, Ms Evangelina Ong, who worked on the project, shared how the library’s modern design will encourage more young readers to visit it as the design is relevant in the current age. Similar news are also reported in Asiaone.com, Tamil Murasu and Today and Todayonline.