Olesya Jain

Libraries have long functioned as a “third space” — public environments where people come not only to read or study, but to explore, reflect, and connect. This thesis investigates how a library can evolve into a multi-dimensional cultural institution by combining the roles of a gallery, library, archive, and museum (GLAM) within a single architectural framework. Rather than separating these functions into isolated zones, the project blends them together to form a layered, interconnected experience of space, knowledge, and community.

Inspired by Max Dudler’s writings (Places to Study, Flirt, and Stroll), they are spaces for people. He frames the library as a place for studying, socializing, wandering, and even informal encounters — hence the phrase “to study, flirt, and stroll.”, the design proposes a library that balances density and openness, storage and display, and solitude and interaction.

It explores how architectural form and spatial relationships can create a dynamic environment that supports both focused learning and flexible public use. This is achieved by organizing the building around two primary spatial systems: one composed of dense, solid zones like book stacks, archives, and smaller study rooms; the other made up of open, light-filled voids such as reading halls, atria, courtyards, and exhibition spaces.

These voids act as structural and experiential anchors within the building. They bring in natural light, provide visual and spatial relief, and support a wide range of public activities — from quiet reading and browsing to gathering, viewing exhibitions, or attending lectures. In contrast, the solid volumes of the stacks create more intimate, enclosed environments where knowledge is stored and accessed. The relationship between these two conditions — solid and void, heavy and light — becomes the core organizational and experiential framework of the project.

Circulation is designed not just to connect spaces, but to define how users engage with them. A system of bridges, ramps, and stairways cuts through and weaves around the building’s volumes, allowing visitors to move between levels and functions in multiple ways. This creates a variety of perspectives, thresholds, and encounters — sometimes compressed and enclosed, sometimes open and expansive. The circulation is carefully designed to feel intuitive, yet offers moments of discovery through sectional variation, visual layering, and changing relationships between programs.

The project also emphasizes intersecting forms, part-to-whole composition, and clear spatial hierarchy. Each programmatic element — whether a reading room, archive, gallery, or event space — maintains its identity, but contributes to the larger whole through alignment, adjacency, and shared infrastructure. The building is not organized as a strict grid or a linear sequence, but as a flexible system where multiple activities can coexist and overlap, responding to the evolving needs of its users.

Applied to the Seoul Metropolitan Library and Museum, this thesis envisions a new kind of civic building: one that is not only a repository of information, but an active cultural platform. It proposes that the library can be a site for public life, knowledge exchange, and interdisciplinary engagement — a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can learn, connect, and experience space in different ways. By focusing on the spatial contrast between density and openness, the integration of multiple program types, and the careful design of circulation and form, the project transforms the traditional library into a complex, adaptive, and engaging urban institution.