site plan
THE BUBBLE FACTORY
COMMUNITY CAFE
PARKING
TOPO MAZE
The Book Nursery
YAC Competition - Pinocchio Children's Library
Team Entry with Eri Yamagata
Located at the historic village of Collodi, Pescia Italy, the Book Nursery is a place where imagination and knowledge are nourished through stories. In order to create a library as powerful as the stories and adventures it holds, we found it essential to evoke curiosity and creativity through a series of stimulating, sensual environments.
In the 1883 book “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” Pinocchio travels through a series of destinations, which include “the Island of Busy,” “the Field of Miracle” and “the City of Catchfools.” Pinocchio found these unknown pockets in the world magical and irresistible, and took him on an unexpected journey where he gained knowledge through mistakes, detours, and surprises.
We believe it is when a child makes discoveries through nooks and niches that they are able to claim the experience as their own and make an homage to the location. In this case, we hope that location can be the library, where they could return and continue their discovery, to treasure it in their heart forever.
Axon view of
Bubble Factory
PROGRAMS
In utilizing the historic Paper Factory and its neighboring landscape near the village of Collodi, we found it especially important to keep proportionate with the site, while creating unusual, metaphoric bubbles additions to the factory and an enchanted maze-like landscape to attract visitors. The division of programs were thoughtfully scattered throughout both sides of the site to promote visitors exploration.
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COMMUNITY CAFE
X-RAY VIEW
OF THE BUBBLE LIBRARY
ADDITIONS
OVERLOOK
TOWER
SECTIONAL VIEW OF UNDERGROUND AUDITORIUM
THE BUBBLE FACTORY
The Bubble Factory consists of the existing Paper Factory's brick envelope, inserted with an engulfing bubble-like library addition. Within the library itself, books are all organized within each of the step seating to maximize book storage beneath and leaving the overhead space cleared for light penetration.
Within the re-purposed Paper Factory, the catwalk and skywalks interweave through different program spaces to encourage visitors to take different paths every time they pass through the space. Towards the end of the Factory building, a green house like memory diorama showcase sspecial exhibitions and installations by the Collodi community and provide a view to the Pescia River.
PATHS
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Inspired by the mountainous landscape of Tuscany with its meandering paths and flowing hills, series of paths were design to take visitors through the Bubble Factory, cross the river and enter The Topo Maze on the opposite bank.
POCKETS
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There is no definite way into the Topo Maze but instead a series of thresholds that allow visitors to create their own journey. Throughout the journey, they will encounter pockets of program such as the hidden amphitheater, seed library, gardens, plant nurseries, and scattered reading rooms.
THE TOPO MAZE
As visitors crossed the Pescia River, they will enter into different levels of landscaped area that plays with fluid circulation and encourage the visitors to explore and stimulate their imagination. In the maze, you will find a continuous library landscape surrounded by a series of retaining walls. These interlacing walls are cutting through topography and dividing programs. Every threshold and entry point to a different program are meant for the visitors to "get lost", and forces them to choose a way, and by doing so, the visitors are able to create their unique journey through the site.
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We also introduced gardens and nurseries within the overall program to draw a closer relationship to trees and our environment. The intention is to take lessons from the act of growing to our act of accumulating knowledge in life.
Within these pockets scattered throughout the site, we have created a typology map that highlights each of their programmatic use.
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The adventure of Pinocchio is about learning, taking detours and growing up.
There are always the unforeseen, what's important is not the failures we accumulated in life
but the things we learned through the journey.
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