Shelf-Life: Re-imagining the future of Carnegie Public Libraries

As happens, eventually, to the books on the shelves they contain, libraries that have not been subject to restoration inevitably have a limited 'shelf-life.' Complaints of cold, leaking, dark or mouldy spaces do not precipitate creative responses and replacement buildings are called for as people perceive themselves to have become victims of their environments. Arguably, the very act of provision of a service such as a library takes away responsibility and sets up an awkward form of ownership.

As the economic balance shifted from coal rich to carbon conscious in the twentieth century, light went from expensive to cheap and heat from cheap to expensive. This shift has precipitated the condemnation of many hundreds of public buildings which were engineered specifically to meet the lean targets of their day with bright single glazed rooflights to maximise daylight compensated by huge fossil fuel fired boilers. Very often the functioning aspects of decorative schemes, the way in which they covered structural joints or incorporated heating or ventilation equipment are deemed redundant because of ignorance of how these mechanisms were designed to work. Given that such features were standard elements of so many buildings, there is potential to make significant gains from identifying such patterns and enabling future projects to contribute to the enrichment of knowledge bases of building components.

Since the 1840s, specifications determined a sequence leading from Structure to Finishes. It is proposed that this archaic workflow may be used to advantage in augmenting the information relayed by surface scanning techniques. The increasingly mechanised era of building from 1880 onwards is however, significantly better documented in technical terms than previous periods through records of product literature, standardised procedures and material classifications. The practice of building specification that grew from a consolidation of professional expertise on similar lines in the UK and the US could provide the basis for increasingly accurate interpretation of surface measurements of buildings provided by 3D laser scan techniques. Technical indices, professional literature and Carnegie UK and US archives provide significant and rich resources which are unparalleled for other buildings in their breadth and scope and so offer a particular opportunity to develop these tools.

Shelf-Life asks if the uniquely controlled procurement of over 2600 public buildings across Britain and America around 100 years ago by the Carnegie Library Programme could benefit from some systematic thinking for their re-vitalisation at a time of crisis. Using and developing new techniques of Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM), the proposal aims to develop a parametric library of building components for Carnegie Libraries of the UK. A digital resource of common elements would enable better-informed, more sensitive and economic proposals for the rehabilitation and re-use of these buildings and set an example for others.

HBIM is limited by the availability of adequate object libraries because historic buildings do not generally have standard construction methods or components and 3D scans, although geometrically accurate, can capture surface information only. 3D scans cannot determine the actual materials or structural elements of existing buildings that lie behind the surface. The number of Carnegie Libraries designed under a very controlled regime provides a unique resource. The deeper cataloguing of available information and technical guidance that is proposed here aims to make a step forward in enabling HBIM to facilitate informed conservation and design within these existing buildings.

Carnegie funding was critical to the public library movement in the UK and many of their features are common to other libraries of the time also. The research will focus upon British libraries but will make reference to the 2000+ US Carnegie libraries.

Shelf-Life seeks to address a problem of redundancy that threatens to waste high quality public buildings that are a century old. In its broadest terms, the publication and dissemination of the Shelf-Life project will seek to promote reflective British and American understandings of the on-going use of public space which learn from comparisons of their experience of Carnegie Library Buildings.

The overall goal will be to initiate an economic and informed conservation model for public libraries on an unprecedented scale. By doing so it will demonstrate the potential to stimulate well-informed, sensitive, inventive and original approaches to the salvage, re-use and re-invigoration of shared inherited 'gifts'. The international aspect promotes dialogue amongst communities providing opportunities for reflection on wellbeing, education and public provision for future generations as well as informing technical and economic decisions.

In pragmatic terms it aims to challenge the state of the art, incorporating digital procurement methods that are commonly held at arm's length by conservationists. Should the development of digital Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) resources making use of the practices of standardisation employed in the Carnegie programme be successful, the work could provide a model for other building typologies. In the short term it would deliver an accessible resource as a means to reflect cultural interpretation within communities. The longer term aim being to deliver a detailed professional resource assisting statutory bodies and professionals alike.

This project aims to apply the potential efficiencies of HBIM to a more accurate calibration of a specific building type that was designed with standardisation as a key aim. The National Building Specification in the UK (NBS) in association with key CAD developers has already established workflows to incorporate contemporary products and to build shareable BIM libraries. The commercial incentive to do so is self-evident, to do it for traditional buildings requires deeper commitment. Here a significant step to demonstrate the viability of applying HBIM principles to a well-defined group of buildings will be set out with the potential to become an accessible part of those shared resources.

The contribution of increasingly usable scanning techniques whether by 3D laser scan or structure-from-motion methods is limited to providing data which records the surface finish and dimensional characteristics of a space or a building exterior. This is very useful for recording cultural heritage but has limited use for those engaged in considering repair or alteration strategies for existing buildings whereby it is essential to understand the construction methods, structural arrangements but also the ways in which the buildings where designed to perform in terms of ventilation, lighting and heating. The rich seam of data generated through the systematic design review of Carnegie Libraries held in Carnegie archives as well as detailed architectural review at the time offers a unique opportunity to significantly assist in the documentation, comprehension and conservation of these buildings which are almost universally at risk of abandonment or ill-informed adaptation.

Shelf-Life will operate and progress through collaboration and engagement with all stakeholders that are concerned with public libraries. Whilst it focuses on Carnegie Libraries for pragmatic reasons, it clearly offers the potential to establish dialogues with those concerned with other libraries and other types of related public buildings. This will be achieved through the presentation of outputs in technically and strategically high level fora internationally but also at a local level with consultant stakeholders and through web fora, contributing to the development of higher quality resources for people on the point of losing their libraries.