Children's Library Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Forming part of the modernisation of the Cultural Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Children’s Library constitutes a unique addition to the public programme of both the cultural centre and the city, as it is the Emirate’s first library solely dedicated to children. The library is integrated across the three floors surrounding the newly established diagonal atrium in the western part of the Cultural Foundation. The Abu Dhabi Children’s Library architecture is similar to a life-size pop-up book. As the children roam around the library, they are introduced to their favourite stories in analogue and digital formats.
The library creates an innovative environment that fosters creativity, literacy, and lifelong learning, aiming to inspire a love of reading and to connect children with the arts, technology, and each other. The library design supports this by creating a wonderful, diverse and immersive spatial landscape, in which children can explore their favourite stories and discover new worlds in both analogue and digital formats as they roam the different environments.
The three storeys of the library each have a theme inspired by the diverse landscape of the UAE to bring the content of the books alive. The ground floor features the exhibition and workshop areas, while the 1st floor transports the children to the desert, inviting the children to play and learn on “sand dunes”. Visiting the second floor, the children experience an oasis theme with “falaj” water channels flowing with books.
The visionary library is designed in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi and is part of the master plan that reinstates the Qasr al Hosn site as Abu Dhabi’s cultural heart and integrates the library into the existing Cultural Foundation.
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