Book Night
A Library for the XYZ Century
5pm and 7pm; 1 hour and 30 minutes per session
When you hear the word “library”, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Books? Full shelves? Study? Complete silence? This architecture workshop invites people to discover the nature of the Museo Reina Sofía Library, the history of its construction and the use of its space while passing through. What’s it like inside? What happens if it is explored with a set objective or from another perspective? No doubt there will be unexpected discoveries!
Aimed at adults with children aged between 6 and 12, the workshop sets out to travel through, analyse and play with the Library’s architecture, the work of French architect Jean Nouvel, which is presented as a haven of peace amid the hubbub of Madrid. Children and adults closely examine and gaze, architecturally, at the building, observing from another point of view, from experimentation and play.
The tour ends with a collective construction of scale models to imagine the ideal library in the 21st century, in accordance with the current needs of users (adults and youngsters).
Exploring, acting, building, changing, drawing, feeling, touching, modifying, imagining and proposing; there is room for everything in this activity, where participants also have the chance to discover other library projects to imagine new realities and put forward new spaces to improve lives in neighbourhoods. For libraries are not just places where books are kept, they are places of research, reading and silence; they house spaces for learning, encounters, project creation, knowledge connections and much more besides.
Participants
Chiquitectos is a fun education project involving children and young people in the world surrounding them, awakening their interest in architecture, the environment, the city and sustainable development. They contribute to creating participatory citizens who are responsible for their own decisions and able to change the state of play.
AMECUM (the Madrid Association of Cultural Mediators) arises from an urgent need to make visible and professionalise the exercise of cultural mediation and its role as a social tool to develop critical citizens. Its commitment involves generating knowledge that revolves around professions from the experience of practice, creating networks, sharing knowledge and fostering critical reflection collectively.