A 3D Network of Walls, Thresholds and Envelopes:

Library in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, NYC


Core II Studio- GSAPP Spring 2019
Critic: Mimi Hoang, nArchitects



Located on a site that offers a stretch of green amidst ample amounts of concrete and tightly packed buildings, the library in Sara D. Roosevelt Park aims to provide a vibrant and refreshing respite for diverse demographics defined by wide ranges of race, age and income. This diversity suggests the need for public allocations to foster links between users while defining boundaries of private ‘sanctuary’ spaces at different scales. As the theme of the studio ‘Alone Together’ suggests, the library caters to its wide variety of users by offering three types of spaces: some of which encourage social interaction and some which allow more intimacy and privacy. The project aims to create fluid transitions between enclosures and exposures through a 3d network of thresholds, envelopes and walls. Beginning with a precedent analysis of a historical library, the project develops in a series of stages from the inside-out to the outside-in.


Diagrams exploring inward and outward focused spaces within a vertically stacked configuration and 3d printed concept models of the proto-building.

1’=1/16” scale acrylic model of the precedent study: British Museum Reading Room, (1857), Architect Sydney Smirke


Concept diagram illustrating three types of spaces offered in the library including:

1    ‘Sanctuary Spaces’ / ‘Thresholds’ for individual programming
2    Spaces to be alone in a communal setting / ‘Envelopes’ with Central Focus
3    Social spaces defined by ‘Walls’ and peripheral movement

1’=1/8” scale corrugated cardboard model showing structural walls, materiality and permeability.
Running on Cargo