TEMPO.CO, Bandung - The City of Bandung is home to a unique small-sized public library called Microlibrary. The walls that surround the second floor of the library is constructed out of used white colored ice cream containers.

The 160 meters square building is located at Jalan Bima No. 100 B. The first floor of this library is designed to be an open space that acts as a multipurpose room, which is frequently used as a dance studio for local schools’ modern cabaret group to practice.

One of the library’s management, Devih Desdian Dwi Hendra, says that there are almost two thousand used square ice cream containers that are used to cover the entire second floor. Each of the containers is stacked parallel to each other and stuck on a steel brace that connects to the main structure.

The containers act as a natural lighting to disperse sunlight during the day into the library while some of the containers are drilled in its bottom to provide ventilation. Other than its practical use, the containers are stacked in a way to show a binary code. “It [the binary code] says, a book is a window to the world,” Devih said.

The library currently has 700 book collections. Roughly around 40 percent of the books are primary school books.

The rest of the collections are religious-themed books, novels, science, politics, and business. Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil launched the library in September 2015. The Microlibrary is open every day from 08:00-16:00 Indonesia Western Time.

The construction of this library is the result of a collaboration between Bandung City Administration, Dompet Dhuafa (NGO), Suryawinata Heinzelman Architecture Urbanism (SHAU), and the Indonesian Diaspora Foundation.

ANWAR SISWADI