Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- About the Authors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Libraries after 2020
- 2 Project Management
- 3 Project and Design Teams
- 4 Partnership and Community Engagement
- 5 The Design Brief
- 6 Design Quality
- 7 Space Planning and Access
- 8 Occupancy and Post-occupancy Evaluation
- 9 Building Libraries for the Future: a Summary
- Bibliography and Further Reading
- Appendices
- Index
7 - Space Planning and Access
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- About the Authors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Libraries after 2020
- 2 Project Management
- 3 Project and Design Teams
- 4 Partnership and Community Engagement
- 5 The Design Brief
- 6 Design Quality
- 7 Space Planning and Access
- 8 Occupancy and Post-occupancy Evaluation
- 9 Building Libraries for the Future: a Summary
- Bibliography and Further Reading
- Appendices
- Index
Summary
Space planning involves determining how large spaces within a building(like rooms and designated areas) are arranged and relate to each otherwithin larger areas. This chapter explores the space planning issues tobe considered in library design and offers new insights in the light ofthe COVID-19 pandemic as well as the requirements of equalitieslegislation.
The way a space is designed and configured can enable (or disable) a widerange of activities and the services it can provide – space andservice are inseparable, and it can be argued that the provision ofspace is a service in its own right.
Les Watson (Watson, 2013, xix)As with other aspects of project management, space planning involves takingdecisions within a finite timescale and within the resources available.Space needs should be forecast and address both present and projected futureneeds, based on the library's collection and service aims. Spaceplanning is an important part of library design and will contribute to thesuccess of the library in terms of efficiency.
This chapter begins with the generalities of space planning from the point ofview of health and well-being and in particular, the implications of theglobal COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 onwards.
Response to challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic
The contribution of libraries of all kinds to the health and well-being oftheir users has long been noted, but this has been brought into increasingfocus by the COVID-19 pandemic and the issues of isolation and socialdeprivation felt by many, which have resulted in increased incidence ofpeople reporting mental and emotional health difficulties.
Research by Painter and colleagues in 2013 into learning space design inacademic libraries in the USA addressed the psychological factors in playwhich contribute to the environmental impacts of a library space onlearning. Using the concept of evidence-based design (EBD), as inevidence-based medicine, the literature was reviewed both to see how thephysical design of library space affects activities and learning outcomesand also to draw conclusions for future design.
- Type
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- Information
- Better by DesignAn Introduction to Planning, Designing and Developing Library Buildings, pp. 95 - 112Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2022