Library and campus for Malawi
Steven Holl Architects' design for a new library at the centre of a new campus plan has been approved by The Miracle for Africa Foundation.
12 Dec 2016
The 66,000 sq. ft. library is organised via a section that provides maximum reflected light to the interior with optimum solar PV collection on the roofs. Natural light bouncing off curved prefabricated roof structures made of ductile concrete form space like a “field within a field.”
The free plan library has meeting rooms and archives encased in glass for humidity control. A central rain collecting pool demarcates the main circulation desk and ripples through the roof geometry like a wave field in cloud-like light.
The construction will utilise local stone and bamboo and local labour. Screens of locally crafted bamboo define the building perimeter leaving a shaded arcade space all around.
This library will be the initial construction of a new campus whose plan morphology has been inspired by paintings of a Malawi batik artist.