Attention-grabbing design of a dedicated children’s library as part of a library and information centre relaunch in Northumberland.

The design scheme needed to incorporate sufficient storage and display space but also be playfully engaging for children of all ages, inspiring them to want to explore the library’s facilities.

To attract and intrigue young readers, we came up with a concept of winding shelving and a twisting ‘ribbon’ which danced around the space and denoted the separate age-range zones. We created niches to foster parent and child interaction, proposed flexible furniture to cater for group and community learning, and made imaginative use of technology such as X-Box-based interactive screens projected onto the entrance tunnel.