Carpet of arches_ Dar Al-Uloum library.

Saudi Arabia

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Other Projects by Mohamed Alaa

MEXICO Contemporary Arts Museum2014

Carpet of arches_ Dar Al-Uloum library.

Saudi Arabia

Firm

Mohamed Alaa

Type

Educational › Library

STATUS

Concept

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

In this proposal which is called “Carpet of arches “, old library and was upgraded and renovated
.Moreover, they were made as an extension to fit the required program and to become more
enviromental ,artistic ,contemporary and upgrade the traditional methods as well to become the
library of the future
program
the external walls and old stairs would be removed.furthermore, The separator wall between
the men and women library would be removed in order to make an inclusive spaces.Furthermore
air conditioning had been moved above the auditorium’s roof to use its unoccupied space as a
result ,Exclusive spaces to become more inclusive and more connected. The admin area will
remain the same as a part of the new library.Also,women exclusive area will be connceted with the
old administration to make the required exclusive area in the ground floor.The rest of the ground floor
will become inclusive and also the children library in between women and inclusive spaces would
be placed.
spaces
The spaces that were created by using a grid oriented toward the north direction as indirect
light were required for reading and thermal comfort in addition structure and beams would be also
based on that grid.Roof space would be used an occupied functional floor.The intersection between
the outline of the library and new grid will become voids containing the light well. Level one will be
more calm space for studying and reading but for nonacadmic materials,and roof floor will include
the rare book areas and more acadimic books for example.
Ptfe Roof and arches symbol
the envelop was inspired by a two icons that clearly show the arabic spirit in design which are
carpet and arches. Ptfe was chosen for the roof to execute the main concept of carpet and arches
which where made from fabric as PTFE provides exceptional forms which emphasis the concept
af arches that is oriented to north in order to allow indirect light inside the spaces .This arches keep
away the other sides of direct light which increase the performance of ptfe .Also Ptfe provides
strength ,durability ,water proof and easy to clean. In general this roof will lit up roof and first level
and the library would become 95 percent naturally illuminated.
campus
In this proposal the connectivity and interaction to its surrounding is a priority because the
library is the icon of education and flag of knowledge which is located beside two important icons of
eduction and knowledge “al rahmaiah mosque and school”.as a result the library will link them by
making accessible entrances and shaded areas that contain green ,seating areas and water ponds
under them. all of that will create a micro comfort climate to be in.The lay out fabric was conceived
to be as the old urban fabric that contains shaded areas between building ,solid ,void spaces
and oasis sometimes . The external wall of the building would be lamstone for its enviromental
charactristics and to be in harmony with the mosque .
DAUI-1390
Parking and cooling basement
cooling towers will draw air inside the basement whereas it will be a parking area with 118 car
capacity giving in order to green spaces above around the building.
.
COOLING STRATEGIES
The whole library will be ventilated naturally by using cooling towers except rare book area
and internet stations will be cooled by air conditioning. In hot summer days, air conditioing will be
unlocked and will be used in cooling the building instead of the cooling towers. The type of cooling
tower uses water and mechanical fan like Rahmanya mosque , to accelerate the air movement cycle
to the cooling basement,then the cooling air in the basement will be pulled to the other spaces in the
library by mechanicl fans throught duct pipes..
ARCHES ,LIGHT WELL AND WOODEN SCREEN
Parametric arches offer a natural indirect day light inside spaces in roof floor and first level.
In the south elevation, the first row of arches is opposite to the rest of arches in order to respect a
human scale height inside spaces. Moreover, this first row of arches is used as a symbol that’s why
wooden screens was applied on it to keep away the indirect day light.
In north these arches was designed to allow only the indirect light from the north for optimum level of
lighting comfort for readers. Light well is the intersection spaces between old building and new one
and will lit up ground floor and basement.
Water cycle
waste water will be used to irrigate the green areas.