Trahan's Accordion Building

This is a building that compresses downwards and decompresses upwards. When it does that, the people inside get squished....

That is so morbid. But the design suggests where imaginations run wild. However, this is still in its conceptual stage but without loony tendencies, it looks stunning. This is Baton Rouge Library proposal by Trahan Architects, located in Louisiana, Missouri.
Evening look
The floor splits.































The diagram clearly shows the program of the building. It indicates that the circulation surrounds the book storage. The book storage is then buffered by reading areas. Then that would mean the reading areas are exposed to circulation. Circulation is a busy area, so how can one read when you hear people chatting in the hallways? Plus the movement in your peripheral vision can be totally distracting. As in super. That is totally anti-concentration to my reading moments which can raise the level of my stress hormones. uuggh..I need a massage.

Trahan Architects recently launched a conceptual design for the renovation and expansion of the River Center Branch Library. The project stands at the intersection between civic buildings and the city’s arts and entertainment district, overlooking a new town square.... (excerpts from Fopple)

A reaction to posts in Fopple and ArchDaily

KARO'S Booze for Books Pav

Somewhere in Leipzig stands a library that doesn't forget its past, booooze!


German designers KARO have designed an outdoor library in Leipzig, Germany.Developed from an installation in 2005 made of beer crates, the new building comprises sheltered seating areas and niches to store books. The new building is clad in wood and materials from a former warehouse. It took some some years to organise the money to build this so called “bookmark” for real. It opened in June this year.Last year, in its project-phase, it has been shown at the Venice Biennale in the German pavillon (updating Germany). An installation of it has also been shown in 2006 in the exhibition.... (excerpts from Dezeen).

It is interesting that the beer crates was the skin on one side and on the other side, the innards show up.
My question is, is it just an installation with benches and niches? From these photos, we see people interact with it. I couldn't find pictures of interiors. What if the books get stolen?

What does the L stand for? Lo_er? :-)

The form in its scale doesn't yell "permanence." Maybe the size times two, will make it really look like a "building." Right now, dwarfed by the old structure at the back, it is an installation that looks like a miniaturized version of a modernist box edifice with an interesting surface.

The choice of green for the interior walls... Any connection to booze?

What is cool with this installation is that it makes designers realize that using beer crates can provide an interesting skin for buildings......Like this...Columbarium Niches 3000. Neat

Photographs are by Anja Schlamann.

A reaction to a post in Dezeen