The Reading Room

The reading room from outside. All reading ledges in use.

I personally prefer to share stories about the more simple and elegant projects, which are more challenging in different ways, than the large scale buildings that I have designed. It is probably because these projects have given me lessons in/ about design, which I have used in other projects. One such project is this reading room. Here the only intervention from my end was to create the envelope, which would make the open corner verandah into a closed space. This was to be used as a reading room. There was no detailed design brief besides that. Our immediate response was to create a skin which could do more than just enclose. So we integrated a reading ledge! The part below the sill of the windows would swing up to become the horizontal surface. We had to fine tune the ergonomics of  this as the chairs were already available at the premises and we were requested to use the same. In all we were able to provide a cost-effective and value added solution to a simple requirement.

The reading room from outside. All reading ledge open.

The reading room from outside. All reading ledges closed. Due to the similar design and look, when closed the envelope looks one.

The reading room from outside. All reading ledges open.

The reading room from outside. All reading ledges in use. 

The reading room from outside. We added an additional verandah and seating outside. 

Site plan. The orange fill shows the reading room.