Content Studio has worked on several projects with Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries (YPRL), repurposing public libraries to meet changing community needs.
FROM A LIBRARY TO A COMMUNITY LIVING ROOM
YPRL came to Content Studio with the aspiration for Diamond Valley Library to become the ‘community’s living room’, a trusted, welcoming space offering a broad range of community services in addition to traditional lending. YPRL asked Content Studio to think of ways to make the book collection more accessible and how the building could better service the community as a place to meet, work, study, and collaborate.
BOOK EXPRESS
Content Studio brought some retail thinking to the curation and display of the book collection. We designed a marketplace near the entry to the building, where staff could curate the collection around themes and genres. The selections are displayed on face-out shelving, just like the new release section of a bookstore. This approach enables time-poor visitors to find what they want quickly.
WORK AND STUDY
Content Studio designed a number of co-working spaces, including meeting pods, scheduled work desks, and quiet study areas embedded within the reading stacks. This provided spaces where people could meet, work, collaborate or study.
We designed an area that could be used for children's programs, gallery exhibitions, book clubs, and special events. The area is designed to be reconfigured and repurposed according to requirements. The space is located next to the terrace, which looks out over the community gardens.
ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY
Every intervention made by Content Studio has added functionality to the space, from connecting the library to the community garden via an outdoor terrace to the placement of meeting rooms to the acoustic design.
Diamond Valley Library is now used as a small business meeting hub, an innovation incubator, an early learning centre, a dedicated study space, a teen hangout, as well as a place to borrow books.