Safe Haven Library

Stair, bookshelf, meeting place or area for play. One structure, many functions. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

This project is the first part of the Safe Haven projects – building for the orphaned children in Thailand. Part two: Bathhouse.

Project by TYIN tegnestue Architects
Photographer: Pasi Alto
Location: Ban Tha Song Yang, Thailand
Client: Safe Haven Orphanage
Project: Library
Cost: 29 000 NOK / 3 800 EUR
Building period: 12th – 29th January 2009
Area: 128m2
Built by: Professors and students from NTNU

In January 2009, TYIN invited 15 Norwegian architecture students from NTNU to participate in a workshop at the Safe Haven Orphanage in Thailand. Associate Professor Hans Skotte and architect Sami Rintala led the workshop.

The most pressing needs at the orphanage were a new sanitary building (Bathhouse) and a library. TYIN worked on the sanitary building together with the Karen workers from Noh Bo. while the workshop participants focused their efforts on the library.

The library was built using local materials and labor

With the assistance of TYIN and NTNU professors, the Safe Haven Library was completed in only two weeks. The library was built using local materials and labor. All the money spent on the project was used in the nearby markets. The concrete base of the library is casted on a bed of large rocks gathered on-site. The walls consist of plastered concrete blocks which cools the building during the day.

: The library is divided in two pieces with a walkway through the building. The biggest boulders was cast into the project as a stepping-stone between the two parts. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: The Facade of the Library is covered with shading bamboo and big eaves. Air can pass freely through the whole building. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: The upper floor. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

The simple construction of the open bamboo facades provides ample natural ventilation throughout the whole structure. Iron wood makes up the solid frame construction and serves as a comfortable floor for the children to play on. The bookshelves are a floor to ceiling height structure that runs the full length of the concrete wall and the floor remains unfurnished to give room different activities. The entrance creates a comfortable buffer zone between a small computer area on one side and a larger library room on the other.

Iron wood make up the solid frame construction and serves as a comfortable floor for the children to play on

The most important thing to Mrs. Tasanee is that her children have food and an education. The library enables the children of the Safe Haven Orphanage to have a space to do homework, use a computer with internet access and read books. The new building has also attained the important role of a gathering space and is frequently used for making crafts and playing games.

: At the back of the Library we built a playing area under the trees. We added some benches for the grown-ups. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: Kids playing cards in the Safe Haven Library. | Photo © Andreas G. Gjertsen

: The front of Safe Haven Library with the Bathhouse in the background. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: Bookshelves run the whole length of the back wall of the library giving room to hundreds of books in all kinds of languages. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: The Computer Area in the Library is a nice place to start learning about technical stuff. There is internett on the way, giving Safe Haven a global connection. | Photo © Pasi Aalto

: The area in front of the Library is used to collect water in the rainy season. The library frames the space, making the sizes seem more adapted to a human scale. | Photo © Pasi Aalto