Dwight School Seoul Spark of Genius Library

Seoul, Korea | 2023
[ SARA NY Design Award of Excellence ]

Designing a school library that supports diversity is especially complex in multi-grade settings, where spaces must respond to children’s growth, evolving knowledge, cross-disciplinary learning, and individual identities.

The Dwight Spark of Genius Center meets this challenge by uniting elementary, middle, and high school libraries into a single collaborative environment. A diverse spatial ecosystem gives each age group a strong sense of identity while fostering connection and shared ownership across grade levels.

At the center of the design is the “growing bookshelf,” a linear element that evolves with students over time. Lower shelves and a sunlit study-play zone with a hammock and multi-functional “stadium” serve younger children, while the middle section expands into a micro-city of book stacks and a treehouse for middle school students. The tallest portion accommodates high school students with quiet, pod-like study nooks.

Two shared spaces further bring students together: a double-height book tower that celebrates collective knowledge, and a flexible, modular learning zone near the entrance that supports a range of informal and formal activities.