This article is from the March 2004 issue of Update.
A major European exhibition on workplace design took place in Docklands recently, with a welcome emphasis on the particular needs of knowledge work. Various spaces were illustrated, including libraries.
But it seems the methods used by architects to understand user needs are still very traditional. So where can we look for a more contemporary approach to understanding the special need for innovative and effective workspace for intensive knowledge work?
Working with a wide range of clients in the design of this type of space, I have drawn on my background in theatre design. In a recent interview, Franklin Becker, of Cornell University, a leading expert on learning and physical space, said that theatre-set designers would be one of the most influential professions in the future design of learning spaces, with their particular ability to see the space afresh and to mine it for its full potential.
A more contemporary way of engaging people in the space design process involves a collaborative approach. It is striking how a change in physical space, either a redesign or a new library building, offers library professionals an important opportunity to rethink their roles and the position of their resources within an organisation and community. We have noticed in working with public and private sector clients that, unprompted, they often perceive the specialist library as an ‘attractor’. It is a prime intellectual asset to be put in a location where it can serve as a hub, or be central to a cluster of hub activities. One university chief librarian has stressed to me how important it is that the organisation’s space for knowledge work is not seen solely as the physical library. Indeed, the librarian should be seeking to influence the way that informal seating and online information access is organised throughout the building.
The medieval monastery as metaphor
The new Cass Business School building in the City of London, designed by Bennetts Associates, draws on best practice in workspace design, with a strong emphasis on innovation and experimentation before and during the design process. This included academic research on historical learning spaces. The medieval monastery, and particularly the cloister, was identified as a type of space designed specifically for the creation and sharing of knowledge. One of the Cass library spaces features a broad cloister-like corridor, with semi-public study areas and places for private reflection and conversation. The whole design reflects transparency — seeing and being seen. The two central atriums draw in light and open up vistas throughout the building, so the café, student computer laboratories and especially the main book issue desk of the learning resource centre are all highly visible and reinforce the principle that knowledge work can take place anywhere. In working on space design with the users of buildings we have learned that metaphor, so powerfully employed in the Cass building, is a highly creative tool. A common visual language can have a profound impact on the physical space design, often more so than the exclusive and rather mystifying technical language employed by architects.
Metaphors of movement and transparency pervade the award-winning Laban Centre for contemporary dance in Deptford, producing a vibrant, fluid space, and the excitement of seeing learning in action throughout the entire building. Like Cass, the library is also located in a prime position. It has fully glazed walls, running alongside a broad-ramped entrance lobby that links the entrance reception with a café, studios, and carefully sited benches and niches for contemplation and face-to-face meetings — the chance encounters that are so vital for informal learning. Inside the library is an oasis of calm, with exciting vistas of street life unfolding outside. The kinetic theme is carried through into the library lighting with large, ceiling-mounted, flexible study lights.
Emerging ideas in the information world
When looking at the design of knowledge spaces we might also consider the parallels between museums and libraries. Both evolved through artifact-based learning, both promote wide access to learning. Contemporary museums use the whole physical space, employing visual, audio and tactile means to provide a series of stimulating and intriguing ‘learning journeys’, making the visit memorable by engaging all the senses. Museums and libraries increasingly use hi-tech means to broaden learning and access to the great collections. In an era when knowledge was stimulated by physical artifacts (books), the location, acquisition and protection of these was a key role for the librarian. Now, much of this stimulus, certainly in the academic, business and public sector, is provided by electronic media.
The information world is becoming more virtual, but there will still be a need for specialised access to that information, and for access to the library professional, in a defined physical space. With the trend towards home PCs and broadband, we may not necessarily be looking at individual workstations. There are newly emerging designs for collaborative or collective workstations, some in the form of electronic tables where groups can work with a shared screen. Increasingly, printed materials are being digitised for remote access, and here again there are parallels with museums and collections of artifacts. However, there is often no substitute for seeing the original artifact. For example the exhibition ‘Art for Votes Sake’ at the Women’s Library in Whitechapel interlinks its book collection, archival and communication roles. The use of exhibitions and displays may appear to relate more to archives and museums, but exploiting the dynamic potential of printed materials may well also be part of the librarian’s role.
Design skills for librarians
Many library professionals are encountering change in the physical workspace. At the CILIP library buildings seminar, held in July 2003, I was struck not just by the exciting case studies of new flagship libraries but also by the importance of improving the design of existing library buildings and the need for library professionals to learn design skills and to share knowledge and experience. Purpose-designed study tours of knowledge spaces can raise aspirations, providing a fresh way of seeing the physical space. Innovative ideas can then be realised through rethinking existing spaces, not necessarily requiring large budgets.
Interactive space design workshops free people from the constraints of received and stereotypical thinking, making the design of the physical space a more active process for the end-users and generating achievable and innovatory solutions. Involving those who are going to work in the space can be a surprisingly effective way of meeting tight budget targets.
Practical design exercises need no particular artistic skill and can include sketching design concepts and working with metaphor, together with sharing knowledge. The concrete results can be used to brief space planners, premises managers and architects. It is essential to look at the potential of the whole physical space, including the vertical elements, walls, lighting, screens, electronic and physical displays. This is often a neglected area in the design of knowledge spaces. Yet given what we know about the importance of walls as spaces to promote learning, is it right that prominent architects can try and force librarians not to have any displays, noticeboards or even signage? These displays are misguidedly seen as compromising the ‘purity’ of the architectural design.
Current trends affecting libraries may include communication centres for mobile populations, promotion of the diversity of information and electronic links between homes and libraries. Undoubtedly there is still a vital role for the information professional in a physical space. The adaptability of that space will be increasingly important: the library may need at times to take on a theatrical quality where special ‘performances’ of information and knowledge take place.
Angela Dove is a consultant (Angela Dove Consulting Ltd — angela@adove.co.uk).