@WLIC2016‎ @amlibraries and @ IFLA have news for those of us who think we have insurmountable problems getting our new library building projects off the ground and running.

Landscape + Recycling + Childrens' Reading Needs + Community Engagement = ‎The IFLA Green Library Award 2016. The Pequeño Sol Green Library

This is the 'formula' the people of Germinalia A.C., San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico used for their sustainable new library project.

For their brilliant needs assessment; commitment to sustainability; community orgainisation and willingness to do the work  - this community has received 1^st Place: for “a project where sustainability was in the soul of the project from the first starting of the idea until to the new library”

The design is clear cut and simple in its inception and brilliant in its execution:

Foundation and concrete slab, mixed and hand poured by parents and young adults;

Wall construction: Recyclable containers carefully washed out and stockpiled by families fill cast-off wooden packing pallets, parged by hand;

and a roof of sturdy metal tops off this structure built with love and intelligent design.

But it is the manner in which this library was constructed, by hand and with total community commitment, that impresses anyone who watches this beautifully put together video: El Pequeño Sol ecological library (The Little Sun Ecological Library

 Be prepared to never complain about your library again. 

See the full details in the Press release from IFLA [English – PDF].

Screen Grab Credit: YouTube Video