Public Spaces
Reading Pavilion
A quiet, light-filled public room designed as a foundation's reading hall.
Overview
Designed as the reading hall of a cultural foundation, this space was built on the idea that a public room can also be warm and human. The tall, light-filled volume makes room for both solitary reading and shared thought.
Acoustic comfort was at the centre of the design: soft surfaces and timber panels absorb sound, giving the room the quiet of a library.
Design Intention
The intention was to create an inviting calm rather than an institutional seriousness. Seating was considered at different scales: long shared tables, single niches, and low chairs by the window. Everyone can find a place suited to their own way of reading.
A reading hall with a tall ceiling
Material Palette
Light oak shelving, cream plaster, and wool-felt acoustic panels. The floor is natural linoleum for quiet steps; the lighting, a soft warmth that falls onto the page.
- Light oak
- Wool felt
- Cream plaster
- Natural linoleum
- Cast brass
Spatial Experience
Entering the hall, sound drops; footsteps soften. Daylight filters through high windows and wanders among the shelves. The turn of a page and a distant whisper become the room's own music.
Details
The individual reading lamps on the tables were cast in brass; the shelf ends were hand-planed. Book-return niches were kept at a height even the smallest visitor can reach.
Gallery
