Shanghai Conservatory of Music Experimental School Hebi Branch Library Interior Renovation / URBANUS

Shanghai Conservatory of Music Experimental School Hebi Branch is a newly-built nine-year public school. The library, centered on the campus’ main axis, serves as the spiritual visage of the school. When URBANUS received the invitation to design the library’s interior in June 2022, their designers were relatively unfamiliar with Hebi, as it was designated as a fifth-tier city. However, after seeing the prosperous state of urban development there, the designers felted motivated and hopeful to make an exciting library. In a way, it is the place where design strength is required the most that can shed the brightest light onto its strength. Nowadays, social media has shed light on the proliferation of internet-famous library and bookstores in first and second-tiers cities. However, a library in a fifth-tier city must not conform to such useless luxury; rather, it is a pragmatic necessity. Since children in such remote places has limited exposure to the world, a good reading space may nurture a love for reading, thereby developing a lifelong habit for learning. After all, it was William S. Maugham who said, “to acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." In short, the more under-resourced an area is, the more meaningful a primary school library can be. The original building has three floors – square in plan – with a large staircase leading to the second-floor, which has a central skylight and a mezzanine. The starting point for design is to upgrade the existing conditions with minimal cost.