hinge – July 2019

hinge 275_54

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Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

RDHA

Idea Exchange Old Post Office

In many towns and cities along rivers and lakes, waterfront land was for many

decades ignored or considered secondary. Now-historical buildings usually

faced the other way, onto streets and avenues. Waterways were unclean

necessities, meant for transporting goods or ridding the place of waste. Of

course, that idea has reversed, and these ‘edge’ conditions are now ripe for

reinterpretation and use, especially of the leisurely kind. Cambridge, Ontario,

is a small, old town boasting a good share of fine stone and masonry edifices.

Its former post office was a fairly grand affair, built during an era when slow-

mail was a vital part of the economy and culture. That is no longer quite as

true, and Cambridge needed a library more than a grand post office. Ergo

this project.

But this was to be a library without books. Furthering the recent evolution of

libraries all over the world, actually paper-based books were not the point.

‘Libraries’ are now cultural shelters for all manner of vaguely related activities,

from art exhibitions to teaching studios, presentations to media studies. That

is why this one isn’t called a library at all, but rather an ‘idea exchange’. Here’s

to sharing ideas.

The parti wraps the noble older structure carefully, in a glass-and-steel

enclosure that peaks out or retreats as it snakes around it. The game was

Photography by Tom Arban, except where stated

Photography by Sanjay Chauhan Photography by Sanjay Chauhan