The new public library in Jeddah seeks to create an oasis of learning and creativity for people of all ages in a growing community, providing indoor and outdoor spaces for reading, studying, making, performing, recreation and relaxation. The library and performance theater is a welcoming place of cultural exchange with transparent walls that put all the building’s various activities on display to actively engage the community and actively support the intellectual and cultural life of the community.
The design is organized in a series of thematic spatial bars with critical adjacencies punctuated by outdoor garden courtyards that enhance the building’s interior spaces and provide shaded outdoor spaces for study and recreation. Visitors entering from the parking area pass through landscaped entry courtyards dedicated to the library and theater, respectively. Library-goers enter a double-height lobby/café space and from there circulate to study and work areas on both levels. Dramatic, high-ceilinged maker spaces and tech labs on the upper level are supplemented by computer labs and co-working spaces on the ground level with adjacent collaboration garden.
The building’s outward form is designed to serve as a local landmark, providing identity and source of pride to a growing community, with grand and memorable interior spaces that speak to the dignity of mankind, the cultural aspirations of the age, and the power of architecture.