Bima Microlibrary - SHAU Bandung

Architects : SHAU Bandung

Location : Jl. Bima, Arjuna, Cicendo, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Client : Dompet Dhuafa, City of Bandung
Area : 160.0 sqm
Photographs : Sanrok Studio
Contractor : Yogi Pribadi, Pramesti Sudjati
Signage graphic design : Nusae
Supported by : Dompet Dhuafa, Urbane Community , Indonesian Diaspora Foundation
Construction costs : 35.000 Euro

Source : "Bima Microlibrary / SHAU Bandung " 04 Jul 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed 12 Apr 2018.
<https://www.archdaily.com/790591/bima-microlibrary-shau-bandung/> ISSN 0719-8884
The Microlibrary is located at Taman Bima, Bima Street in Bandung in a small square in a Kampung
neighborhood near the airport. The neighborhood consists of middle class housing on one side and a
Kampung (village) like structure on the other, where less affluent people live. The Taman Bima
Microlibrary is the first realized prototype of a series of small libraries in different locations throughout
Indonesia, which we intend to build.

The building is situated in a small square with a preexisting stage that was already used by the local
community for gatherings, events, hanging out and sports activities. Our intention was to add rather than
take away, so we decided to enhance the open stage by shading it, making it rain protected and cover it
in form of the floating library box.

The building is constructed via a simple steel structure made from I-beams and concrete slabs for floor
and roof. The stage was reworked in concrete and a previously missing, wide stair was added. As the
building is located in a tropical climate, we aimed to create a pleasant indoor climate without the use of
air conditioning. Therefore, we looked for available façade materials in the neighborhood that were cost
efficient, could shade the interior, let daylight pass and enable enough cross ventilation. Initially, we found
several small vendors selling used, white and translucent jerry cans. However, prior to construction the
jerry cans were no longer available in the quantities we required. Instead, we found used plastic ice cream
buckets that were being sold in bulk. This turned out for the better as they have a more positive image
and are more stable when cutting the bottom open for cross ventilation.
While studying design options of how to arrange 2000 ice cream buckets, we realized that they could be
interpreted as zeros (opened) and ones (closed), thus giving us the possibility to embed a message in the
façade in the form of a binary code. We asked the Mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, a supporter of the
project whether he had a message for the Microlibrary and neighborhood and his message is: “buku
adalah jendela dunia”, meaning books are the windows to the world. The message can be read starting
from the top left (facing the front) and spirals down around the perimeter repeatedly. Not only does the
facade give additional meaning to the building but the buckets also generate a pleasant indoor light
ambiance since they scatter direct sunlight and act as natural light bulbs.

The buckets were then placed in between vertical steel ribs spanning from floor to roof and are inclined
towards the outside to repel rainwater. For more harsh tropical rainstorms translucent sliding doors in
the inside can be closed temporarily. Mounting 2000 buckets, making the fixture and punching out
bottoms of more than half of them is time consuming. However, the local craftsmen made their own
punch out/cutting tools to be faster while also maintaining sharp and clean edges.