Children’s Library | 2001 | Joya de Agua, Mexico  The inhabitants of Joya de Agua had to travel nearly 20 miles to reach the nearest library. With its hilly terrain and limited bus access, the children of this rural village had virtually no access to books. This realization by the local community -- plus a generous book drive campaign by a Seattle fourth-grade classroom -- led to this project designed and built with BaSiC Inititative.

With only seven weeks for design and construction, we met this immense challenge with an elegant and concise design. The holistic concept made it possible to tackle daylighting, natural ventilation, heat insulation and water collection in four simple walls and an innovative roof.

Thick brick walls support an expressive curving roof that dips to the south and rises to the north to capture ambient light for reading. The walls extend beyond the building envelope to create a shaded entry loggia to the south and deflect late afternoon sun to the north. The thickness of the walls, along with these shading techniques, insulates the building from oppressive summer temperatures. The walls taper from the roof, sending roof-collected rainwater to a reflecting pool and cistern.

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