“It’s a giant little library.”
When we think of great public buildings our thoughts often go to vast train stations, hulking central libraries, and grand city halls. However, what defines great public architecture is not its scale or monumentality, but its high quality of design and commitment to enhance the public realm. What’s more, sometimes it is the smallest of buildings that have the biggest impact on our neighbourhoods. Case in point is Newmarket’s Story Pod. Designed by Atelier Kastelic Buffey (AKB), the pod is a petite 2.4m by 2.4m community-supported lending library which combines elegant design with a strong sense of community. While modest in scale, the Story Pod has already had a significant impact; attracting neighbours and visitors alike to exchange books and ideas, while helping reinvigorate Newmarket’s downtown core.

Photo credit: Bob Gundu

From the Architects:

Located at the edge of a recently completed civic square in the historic heart of the Town of Newmarket, the Story Pod is a continuation of the municipality’s plan to use contemporary design as a means of creating a lively hub for gathering within the leafy, quaint setting.

The Story Pod echoes AKB’s renowned residential projects with a pure, simple form that belies suggests a deeply thoughtful approach to architecture. The abstract, black volume — a compact 8’ w by 8’ d by 10’ h — acts as an urban marker, drawing curious residents from nearby Main Street and an adjacent riverside walking trail. As users move around the box, the rhythm of its vertical slats changes. The tightest spacing articulates opaque walls; the larger gaps, backed by transparent Lexan, allow light and views to filter through; and the widest openings display the book stacks, showcasing the spines and encouraging eager readers to come in.

Photo credit: Shai Gil

During the day, the invitation becomes more pronounced when two of the walls pivot open like the covers of a book, welcoming people inside or to gather around the front. Visitors can take or leave something to read, or lounge quietly on the built-in seating and read. Groups of students can collect around outside for story time with their teacher. At night, when the doors are locked, recessed, energy efficient LED lights, powered by concealed, self-sustaining solar panels on the roof, glow through the lattice work like a lantern, providing ambience for night markets or community events. During the winter months, the pod will be stored off-site; specially designed channels at the base accommodate a standard forklift for easy, efficient transportation. 

The Story Pod’s ethos of community comes from the roots of the design process. The concept was initiated by HollisWealth, who donated funds for the purchase of materials. AKB undertook the project pro bono. The studio carefully considered how to make the design aesthetically pleasing and functional, as well as ecological, economical and easy to build so that a volunteer construction crew could assemble it. Drawing on their experience designing a ski chalet with a tight timeframe and budget, AKB used standard dimension lumber and plywood — which minimized production waste — doing so with clever proportioning, rhythm and balance to create something graceful. Town of Newmarket employees, none of whom are fulltime professional contractors, dedicated their work days in a cordoned off corner of a municipally owned machine shop to build the pod. The care they took with the details demonstrates affection for the project that will surely grow with time.