Awarded 2nd Prize by the United Nations Development Program
(library)(lounge) offers Gevgelija a new civic center. This learning institution provides a range of quiet research environments while granting event spaces for community activities.
At (library)(lounge) Gevgelija ‘s main book collection is housed in a box sunk into a glazed double-height plinth. Wooden mullions encase this collection box, forming a striated skin that unpeels across the building’s surface to define reading areas at various scales. Within the collection box, the mullions pull away from the façade to form intimate interior and exterior reading rooms. At the box’s south facade the mullions peel back to wrap a large open reading lounge in the glazed plinth below. Interior and exterior activity boxes for both children and adults overlook the double height reading lounge. At grade, the reading lounge extends via sliding glass doors to a small public plaza that connects (library)(lounge) to the Pionirski dome next door.
In collaboration with Drake Hawthorne and Abigail Ransmeier
