Updating Library, Architectural Adaptation in Response to the Virtual Space of the Internet

Abstract

The explosion of new technologies, predominantly the increased inhabitation of the virtual space of the Internet, implies an emergent organization that challenges the existing structures of our established institutions. To understand how this shift; affects architecture, a physical construct, an existing university library (Killam Library at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada), is examined through its conception, implementation and subsequent use in order to be updated into the present condition. With the shift in format from the book to the digital realm the false perception of the Internet as a cloud describes society’s willingness to negate the physicality of information and transfer power towards large private corporations. Using architectural adaptation, the physicality of information can be re instated by representing equally and intensifying moments of stasis and movement. With the arising situation and the misconceptions that follow call for the re-examination and updating of the library typology to offer new spatial arrangements back to the public that are representative of the contemporary condition.