A Case Of Serious Play

Maya Somaiya Library, Kopargaon, Maharashtra

The Maya Somaiya Library’s most captivating feature and function perhaps lie outside and above it. And it is not only the interesting feature and the form that captivates but also the opposing theories and arguments that the structure articulates through its design and construction. Arising from limited opportunities but expected to address multi-fold educational challenges, the library is a metaphor that establishes ideas, raises certain pertinent questions on the local-global conflict and raises the bar on how much more a building (and building-programme) can be, beyond the functions attributed to it.

- Shriti Das

The playground and library are possibly the students’ favourite part of school. Play develops cognitive and social skills in a child; reading inculcates mindfulness and order. While the yesteryears of school evoke the fondest memories, one isn’t entirely lying, if “back in the days”, school did seem daunting. And while classroom sessions seemed endlessly long and cumbersome, it was the library and playground that offered respite from order and academia. But seldom were both activities conjoined or intandem with one another, for the practical reason that noise and focussed readings are not the best of friends.

For the Maya Somaiya Library, the architect’s initial response to the programme perhaps did not involve not fusing the polar elements of reading and play. Neither does the library building cater to “playing” in the literal physical sense of running and engaging in games. But ‘play’ here can be a metaphor for engagement that is not serious or academically inclined. An action that is informal and disengaged from the seriousness of a school library. The architects wished to offer a space that inspired students to spend long hours in the campus and even draw neighbouring residents to the place post-school.

As teaching means were limited in the area, the form had to be a catalyst that impelled inspiration and curiosity alongside a motivation to spend long hours in the school vicinity. The architects also realised that open landscapes are often more alluring than closed spaces. And especially in schools, where most learning activities transpire indoors and children are often in a rush to finish with school hours and head home. Governed by these notions, they conceptualised a form that transpires as a shelter as well as an open landscape.