The building is constructed via a simple steel structure made
from I-beams and concrete slabs for floor and roof. The stage was
reworked in concrete and a previously missing, full-length stairs
were added. As the building is located in a tropical climate, the
aim is to create a pleasant indoor climate without the use of air
conditioning. Therefore, it is important to use available façade ma-
terials in the neighborhood that were cost efficient, could shade
the interior, let daylight pass and enable enough cross ventilation.
Initially, the architects found several small vendors selling used,
white and translucent jerry cans. However, prior to construction
the jerry cans were no longer available in the required quantities.
Instead, the team found used plastic ice cream buckets that were
being sold in bulk. This turned out for the better as they have a
more positive image and are more stable when cutting the bottom
open for cross ventilation.
While studying design options of how to arrange 2000 ice cream
buckets, SHAU team realized that they could be interpreted as ze-
ros (opened) and ones (closed), thus giving them the possibility to
embed a message in the façade in the form of a binary code. SHAU
asked the Mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, a supporter of the
project whether he had a message for the Microlibrary and neigh-
borhood and his message is: “buku adalah jendela dunia”, which
means ‘books are the windows to the world’. The message can be
read starting from the top left (facing the front) and spirals down
around the perimeter repeatedly. Not only does the facade give
additional meaning to the building but the buckets also generate
a pleasant indoor light ambiance since they scatter direct sunlight
and act as natural light bulbs.
The buckets were then placed in between vertical steel ribs
spanning from floor to roof and are inclined towards the out-
side to repel rainwater. For more harsh tropical rainstorms trans-
lucent sliding doors in the inside can be closed temporarily.
Mounting 2000 buckets, making the fixture and punching out
bottoms of more than half of them is time consuming. However,
the local craftsmen made their own punch out/cutting tools to
be faster while also maintaining sharp and clean edges.
The Microlibrary adds identity and is a source of pride for all
the people in the neighborhood. The activities and teaching are
currently supported and organized by Dompet Dhuafa (Pocket
for the Poor) and the Indonesian Diaspora Foundation. Howev-
er, the ultimate goal is to enable the local people to organize
the content and maintenance independently. A local elementary
school has started to visit the microlibrary 2 times per week as
a part of their curriculum.
The Microlibrary adds identity and is a source of pride for all
the people in the neighborhood. The activities and teaching are
currently supported and organized by Dompet Dhuafa (Pocket
for the Poor) and the Indonesian Diaspora Foundation. Howev-
er, the ultimate goal is to enable the local people to organize
the content and maintenance independently. A local elementary
school has started to visit the microlibrary 2 times per week as
a part of their curriculum.
Photo Info: Photographer: Sanrok Studio