A Vessel of Knowledge Part 1 Project 2006 Arifa Chand Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool | UK “ ‘the universe’ - which others call the library,” stated Jorge Luis Borges almost with biblical undertones in his book, The Library of Babel, challenged my perception of what knowledge, where wisdom and education - the most precious unquantifiable offerings ought to be sought. In the process of translating the metaphorical to the architectural, I began to explore through physical modelling the labyrinthine drama of heightened spaces and massing to complement the qualities already present in the Metropolitan Cathedral.The spaces of the library unravel to give the user a constant bewildering sensation oscillating between movement and stillness. Marrying tactility with a wide range of materials such as cement, wood, card and plaster Arifa developed a personal expression into her sculptural explorations for this project. This immediate process led to the formation of spaces where walls become the repository of knowledge, orchestrating random spaces whilst simultaneously containing the various systems that bring life to the building. The interplay between the skybound, the earthbound and the struggle for knowledge are played out in the spaces defined by the vertical solidity of the entombed books.