Student-designed mobile library prepares for rollout

A bookmobile designed by RIT students will soon roll into Rochester neighborhoods. 

Students in RIT’s School of Design spent the fall 2023 semester working with the Rochester Public Library (RPL) and City of Rochester on a new mobile library, replete with traditional and digital library offerings.

Interdisciplinary teams — representing RIT’s graphic design, industrial design and interior design programs — developed and proposed designs for a new library-on-wheels that RPL aims to deploy. The system is meant to better connect RPL with the Rochester community by transporting books and other library resources and services directly to different populations. 

Students designed concepts for the build out of a newly purchased van that will operate out of the Lyell Avenue branch and make the library more accessible to the public. Proposals included graphics packages, compact storage solutions for books, printers and digital media equipment, Wi-Fi capabilities, modular book carts, tables, chairs, and other amenities to create a mobile hub for learning and enrichment. 

In addition to retrofitting the van, the designers produced concepts for a companion renovation of the physical Lyell Avenue branch location to accommodate hybrid modes of operation.

The project was executed in the Studio Topics in Art and Design course taught by Kelly Jahn, adjunct faculty in the interior design program. The van build out is anticipated to be completed by this summer.

The students in the class were: Baris Aldemir (industrial design), Lana Derby (interior design), Haley Giroux (interior design), Andrew Guillet (industrial design), Bennett Hu (industrial design), Emily Krebbeks (interior design), Muzen Magzoub (interior design), Rachel Mikolajczyk (interior design), Liz Rutalis (interior design), Max Stromfeld (graphic design), Katie Updegrove (graphic design), Troa Vimahi (interior design), Shirley Yang (industrial design) and Xuan You (graphic design).

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Van wraps for the mobile library concepts designed by both student teams.

 

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A rendering of the Lyell Avenue library branch renovation by the team of Haley Giroux (interior design), Andrew Guillet (industrial design), Emily Krebbeks (interior design), Muzen Magzoub (interior design), Max Stromfeld (graphic design), Troa Vimahi (interior design) and Shirley Yang (industrial design).

 

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The interior of a mobile library design concept by the team of Baris Aldemir (industrial design), Lana Derby (interior design), Bennett Hu (industrial design), Rachel Mikolajczyk (interior design), Liz Rutalis (interior design), Katie Updegrove (graphic design) and Xuan You (graphic design).