Second Skin is a piece centred on the importance of reading and literacy as well as green public spaces in cities.
DS+R, a New York-based interdisciplinary design studio known for its innovative work in architecture and urban design, employed cork as a component for building an outdoor community library – a flexible and adjustable set of bookshelves installed on trees in public spaces, along with a set of benches created from old cork oak tree stumps from the cleaning of the cork oak fields, for the comfort of the readers. The project materializes in a second skin of cork which surrounds the tree trunks as well as bookshelves and benches with the intent of surprising visitors and encouraging them to stay, read and learn.
Installed in a small public garden close to the Biblioteca Municipal de Belém, this intervention also includes a curated selection of books and literary events by the library, focused on the importance of the feminist literature in its collection.
Location: Rua do Cais da Alfândega Velha in the public garden, Lisboa
