The Collection is a third place library and cafe that aims to unify diverse people, enhance wellbeing and increase community connection in downtown Richmond, Virginia.
Inspired by the shape of the existing building and its new program as a community library, the design explores books on a bookshelf as a conceptual interpretation for people in a building.
Undulating and staggered volumes of space represent books while people are highlighted as the stories and substance because, just as books are nothing without the stories within them, spaces are nothing without the people who occupy them.
The most critical component of third places is the opportunity for people to connect.
Therefore, it was important to break the regimented levels through a three-storey atrium and a glass stair feature spanning all four levels to emphasise the unity of this diverse community bookshelf.
