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Embedded in the Don River Valley, this Public Library and Ceramics studio aims to return the site to the community by sinking its program into the ground. The relationship to the ground that emerges encourages experimentation and play on each level.
At street level, the community can gather around the warmth of the heat rising from the kiln below and lightwell mounds invite occupants to sit or climb.
The outdoor sunken seating area is the beginning of the journey below, leading to vertical circulation cores that are paired with views out to the changing layers of earth. Excavated earth from the site is used to create Rammed Earth building components which create a relationship with the layered earth framed by the windows.
Views within the library begin to organize the stacks, and the varying qualities of light and heat from the kiln begin to dictate program.