“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
The library type has undergone a radical transformation in recent decades. Libraries have evolved from mere containers of diverse objects to cultural and civic centers with an important urban and public component. New technologies and new media have forced to rethink these buildings more as cultural and exchange infrastructures than a simple storage space. Paradoxically we still identify libraries with these classical typologies. The library continues to be the support for communities by assuring their access to culture and education. So, will the libraries disappear? Probably not, and we hope so. The printed book, even with its evolving condition is still today one of the most powerful man-made artifacts and libraries define and represent who we are as a society. In the meantime, can we have both library and garden to merge? That is probably all we need.
