Introduction
Initiated and crowd funded by IX Architects Pte Ltd, Project Books and Cubes is a learning space nestled quietly on a primary school campus, in a rural village in Siem Reap. Project Books & Cubes is a pro bono work conceptualized and designed for the children of rural Cambodia. With this learning space, the underprivileged communities will get empowered through education.
Though small in stature, it is an incubator of big dreams for the children living there. Nestled quietly on a primary school campus, students can use this library in all weathers and even during electrical shortages. Despite being in a pure cube form, the library embraces the entire site and complements other school activities.
The design concept is to create an engaging library for children. The 3 movable cubes that form the library are transformable according to the user’s needs – when pushed and locked together, it is presented as a linear library in the form of shipping container; when pulled apart, the library instantly transforms into a multi-purpose space, which gives teachers the possibility of conducting lessons in the embrace of nature, as well as promoting the arts through staged performances. Furthermore, being an easily-replicable design, it is a new typology made with local rattan material that benefits many inaccessible parts of rural tropics.
