Makerlabs: Makerspaces in Libraries as Modern Spaces of Urban Belonging

Abstract

In the context of changing reference points that characterizes contemporary late modernity, public buildings are demanded to adapt to transforming cultural values. Buildings, static long-lasting structures, must satisfy changing purposes, programs, and users. One example of this shif tare libraries which are undergoing transformations both as an institution and as a built object. Since digital resources are broadly accessible through digital means, libraries are shifting from knowledge consumption to knowledge creation spaces. The concept of “making” appears as one upcoming approach to explore contemporary literacy in libraries. The project Makerlabs: Makerspaces in libraries shows how designing public buildings as unfinished publicity thresholds makes space for cultural values’ creation and transformation. In this study, theories on public buildings, liquidity, thresholds, and values ground the framework informing design propositions tested with spatial interventions. Design Driven Methodologies are used as a discursive communication medium between theory and practice, concepts, and approaches, as a generative and reflective tool.