Februar 6, Lahore
It was clear from the beginning that the library as a complete installation could not be moved between the two countries—the budget was too small and our designs perhaps too big! It was also clear that our library design should be easy to move—hence mobile—but on what parameter? As it turned out our parameter was the autorickshaw you find in Lahore and Kolkata, a vehicle much nicer then a car. (As Sabir of Pakhiwas showed us by doing you also can transport a shelf of the Lahore design together with three people and a hundred zines on a motorcycle. A pity that this experiment did not get documented.)
On the top of a rickshaw you can fix one, two, in fact unto to seven shelves, or you can load it with two sets of boxes (if you want to transport all the three sets it gets a bit difficult as you need a person for each set of boxes so not all carrier fit into the rickshaw together with the boxes). But our library designs are not only beautiful to look at when they pass you while you walk the streets of Lahore or Kolkata, they also function wonderful as an easy so setup library design: The boxes you just have to take apart and arrange them however you feel like (well organized or odd, as a shelf, as a table) and the shelves you just have to unfold, and they build right away a wall and a shelf in one (just be aware that you mount an elastic so the zines don’t fall if a draft passes).
Conclusion: The two different designs have different advantages, the boxes are simpler to build and to carry, the shelf function easier in installing a library kind of room. But what both have in common: They can be decorated together with workshop participants (a tool we did not use for the Kolkata boxes) and both are fairly easy to build. Just take care you find a proper and reliable carpenter.