Network

West Oakland, CA | 2022

This was a community infrastructure project based around the need for a public library in an impoverished neighborhood in West Oakland, CA. For my proposal, I focused on the use of pathways to physically stitch resources of education and food into the previously redlined neighborhood. By using this tool, the pathways become a way to cross territories that cannot normally be crossed. The pathways highlight a course of action that clear the knowledge routes of any obstacles or disturbances, thus allowing the flow of information to guide them through and into the the building. The ground floor is open air, allowing for community members to meander through on their daily routes as they interact and gather with each other while looking for books. This creates a deeper level of access for people who might not feel comfortable being confined in a typical library. Freshly grown food and knowledge resources were packaged and distributed from the library to neighborhood homes through a delivery system that emphasizes the strong pathways through the building.