2. PROGRAM AND FLOOR PLANS The model library being designed for the Libraries for Liberia Foundation has been designed to include all the current thinking and trends in 21 st century library design. The building will provide the traditional library offerings such as locations to obtain books and complete quiet study. However, it will also include large group rooms that can be used for community meetings, training facilities, etc. These large rooms can be broken up into smaller rooms through the use of mobile partitions. There will be a computer lab that provides access to the global world, imagine children from Liberia in a Skype conversation with children from the US and other nations around the world. Children, teen and adult sections will be provided. A lounge and exterior patio provide breakout space where people can enjoy a book or access a wireless network on their I- Pad. Green building technologies will be incorporated to leverage the climate of the region and to help offset or even perhaps eliminate the use of energy off the grid. These green technologies also become an educational tool, offering demonstration and instruction for the people that use the library on emerging new sustainable processes.

3. 1 ST FLOOR

4. 2 ND FLOOR

5. FORM AND MEANING The model library is a nod to the social, cultural, artisan and architectural history of this unique nation. Founded as a nation of freed slaves repatriated to Africa, Liberia at its very roots is a nation of diversity and freedom, standing as the first republic in a continent of colonization. The minority Americo-Liberians who founded the country were all of a diverse cultural background from all over Africa and the remaining population represents over sixteen different ethnic groups. The model library, intended to be customized and built in each county of the country, represents a distinctive opportunity to unite and celebrate this diversity in a nation that has now emerged from a dark period of civil war.

6. WATTLE AND DAUB The wattle and daub technique of constructing traditional pre-republic architecture. In the wattle and daub process, a lattice of sticks and branches, called a wattle, is assembled into a basic weave. Then clay, wet soil or animal dung is added to produce walls of a building. Alone, each stick is weak, but combined into a lattice and solidified together, the stick becomes something stronger. Similarly, united as a nation, Liberians gain strength and solidarity.

7. WATTLE AND DAUB

8. QUILT MAKING There is a long history of quilt making and needle art in Liberia. This skill was exported from the antebellum American south. In 1892, Martha Ann Ricks famously presented a coffee tree quilt to Queen Victoria of England at Windsor Castle. Similar to Liberia, a quilt is a series of diverse patches, threads and patterns that are bound together to make a beautiful tapestry.

9. QUILT MAKING

10. LIBERIAN ARCHITECTURE The model library’s material selections are pulled from the diverse materials that have evolved into use throughout the history of the nation. Rammed earth is reminiscent of the traditional wattle and daub earth structures. Green roofs with native grasses are also evocative of the conical thatched roof of the traditional architecture. Brick construction was imported from the freed slaves who brought the Greek revival and colonial styles back with them from the American south. The wood framed building was similarly imported from America, but was modified to use metal cladding. As Liberia modernized, they introduced the concrete and glass boxes of the post World War II international style. Incorporating each of these materials into the model library pays homage to the architectural history of the nation. Each material also becomes symbolic or the different groups represented in Liberia society.

11. CONICAL HUT RAMMED EARTH

12. CONICAL HUT GREEN ROOF

13. ANTEBELLUM ARCHITECTURE BRICK

14. ANTEBELLUM ARCHITECTURE METAL PANEL

15. INTERNATIONAL STYLE CURTAIN WALL

16. INTERNATIONAL STYLE CONCRETE

17. FORM AND MEANING