READER’S GARDEN

Project Status: Built

Year : 2024

Type : Permanent Art Installation

Reader’s Garden

A reading porch of Shaker Heights Public Library

Reader’s Garden is a reading porch that turns the library inside-out.This outdoor library duplicates library functions beyond their walls to blur the boundaries of community and the civic institution while providing a new place for feeding inspiration.

Reader’s Garden is composed of various scales of “book modules”. Made out of sheet metal and frames, these book modules serve as seatings for readers, platforms for poetry recitation. The text on books displays titles and names of authors of books that are from Shaker Heights and Cleveland region. The community can make decisions and change the books to be showcased through curating in a certain time frame.

The eye-catching colors not only highlight the playful experience but also attract both regular library patrons and non patrons such as drivers on Lee Road and Van Aken Boulevard, those who come out from Van Aken & Lee Station or those looking for a spot to rest.

Libraries fuel inspiration. They offer serendipitous encounters, encourage community interactions, foster an atmosphere that makes young people learn. Reader’s Garden is a colorful informal place that celebrates readers and writers’ culture and activates exteriors of the library.

In collaboration with : Land Studio, Shaker Heights Library, Mike Sobeck and Rustbelt Cleveland.