The Reel Library —
Challenging paradigms through negative space
McGill University, Montreal, Fall 2019 Through meticulous landscaping, massing and programming this project turns the library space into a procession with no ending. A sequence of solids, and voids, light and darkness, that invites the user to meander into the library of Babel, get lost and perhaps find their way. A cinematic device, in which the user is simultaneously actor of their own destiny and spectator of a new world.
The diagram above shows how the interstice acts as a programmatic device: the library program is articulated around the same rigorous axes that helped define the building form.
The longitudinal section shows the importance of the crevasse (highlighted in yellow), around which level changes and interpenetration become possible . The sketch above illustrates the cone of vision of the observer located on the second level. A multiplicity of paths and stairways appears before them: the group study rooms from the first level mezzanine, the second level upper platform and even the way to the top floor.
