The Living Library

The Living Library is a service and spatial design proposal that reimagines Literature Lane as a night-time storytelling environment.

The project responds to a gap in how Melbourne’s identity as a City of Literature is experienced in everyday public space. While the State Library attracts visitors during the day, literary engagement rarely extends into the urban environment at night.

By introducing an audiobook-based experience, the laneway becomes a space where stories are heard, seen, and shared. Multilingual scripts, projected subtitles, and curated bookshelves make literature accessible to international visitors and diverse audiences.

The spatial journey is designed as a sequence—from arrival, discovery, and interaction, to memory—allowing visitors to move through the space in a self-guided and intuitive way.

Beyond the experience itself, the project connects local bookstores, literary organisations, and nearby businesses into a shared cultural system. Through collaborations such as literature-themed food and promotional installations, the laneway becomes both a cultural and economic platform.

This project reflects my role in communication design and spatial storytelling, combining system thinking, visual identity, and 3D prototyping to translate an abstract concept into a tangible urban experience.