Information exchange : the effect of new information typologies on library architecture
This thesis document investigates contemporary forms of information media and their effects on library architecture. The reseach portion of this document concludes with a design project that illustrates a solution to programmatic infill imposed upon academic libraries built prior to the rise of digital media. The casualties of injecting additional porgram elements into older libraries are the print collections. Many such libraries have adopted roles resembling community centres and have lost space devoted to quiet study and book stacks. The driving concept for this project was to return the program of the Ryerson University Libary to a state closer to its original design. By reintroducing lost collections and quiet work areas, the interactive and digitial program elements are forced outside the walls of the original building. This expelled program has been reformatted into a new archetype and is skinned as such, creating an additional university building focused on information exchange.