Firm： blank studio

Type： Commercial › Exhibition Center Cultural › Cultural Center Gallery Educational › Library

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2018

SIZE： 25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

Mediateka in Tychy is a library of the 21st century – the new building uses the most modern solutions in the librarianship. There is a 24-hour "bookshop" and a stand-alone borrowing stand, a new department - multimedia reading room with many online-connected stations, as well as a meeting room and playground for children. On the area of more than 2744 m2 there is the Main Library of the Municipal Public Library in Tychy, and a concert hall. The remaining part of Mediateka is occupied by private investors.

All three zones (libraries, hall and private parts) are connected by the common part, i. e. the hall and technical rooms. This is the place where cloakrooms, public toilets, children's changing rooms and bicycle racks are located.

Our role was to make this space have a unique mood – be friendly & understandable for people of all ages. We were also very much tied to a small budget of the institution, so we had to base on popular production materials. And last, but not least we had to pay attention to safety – glass walls will be very dangerous if you collide with them – so our environmental graphics mark nearly all of them with irregular linear pattern.

As a result line & geometry was a main inspiration for a whole system – it appears in pictograms (which are more like an illustration) & huge room numerals. Even the typeface fullfill the geometrical, minimalistic look of the system. For that reason we chose Sofia Pro Black, a neo-grotesque with fancy deatils.