dpavilion architects: amin shipping container library

‘amin library’ by dpavilion architects, batu, indonesiaimage © ganny gozalyall images courtesy of dpavilion architects

surabaya-based firm dpavilion architects have recently completed a colorful library in batu made from eight recycled shipping containers that cost eight million rps (820 USD) each. they are standardized modules suitable for a variety of uses, affordable, and they symbolically hold the books thatwill open the children’s eyes to the very world the containers have travelled before ending up as a library and polyclinic. in the small cosmopolitan agricultural town, a clash between the contemporary city and the village clash; where the gap between the rich and poor is increasingly widening, the project aims at leveling the playing field by providing an educational facility with over 6,000 books and a small clinic all for free, in an attempt to improve the quality of life for all the locals. each of the colored boxes are attributed to a different function: the blue volume is for entertainment and popular books; the red containers extend out as a canopy over an open-air circular reading terrace, and holds the science and technology books; the yellow is reserved for the women’s reading room; the green greets visitors with the main lobby space. the actual built structure provides only the foundation for the containers hoisted upon steel stilts. the container then becomes the perfect building component, economically and metaphorically,using its unique properties to introduce a world beyond the site to the children of batu. the library stands as a progressive structure leading thetransition from a rural to an urban context, at the same time questioning the role of architecture as a result of commodity and materiality.

third level containers supported by long steel columns hovering over the site at the same level as the tree canopiesimage © ganny gozaly

entry lobby areaimage © ganny gozaly

project info:

location : jl. sultan agung, batu – east java, indonesiaclient : mr. ronny sendjojosite area : 700 m2architecture firm : dpavilion architects project team : edwin nafarin (principal), khamawardhana heksa putera, kartika ciputerastructural engineer: junaedi masil & associate & mr. surjophotographer: ganny gozaly