The Old Post Office is Canada’s first ‘bookless’ library. Apart from displaying a few recent book acquisitions and periodicals, its spaces are dedicated to the idea of creation in a broad sense, for all age groups. While libraries are still places for storing books, they are now facilities geared toward storing information in all its forms to facilitate both passive and active learning, where what is learned in the facility can be physically put into practice.
Idea Exchange Old Post Office
The project is a major renovation, restoration and addition to a listed heritage structure in Galt, Ontario. Galt is the largest of three townships that make up the municipality of Cambridge, and its historically intact downtown core area developed alongside the Grand River. The historic post office building, constructed in 1884-85, was designed by Thomas Fuller, the architect of the original Parliament Buildings’ Centre Block (destroyed by fire) and Library of Parliament.
The design doubles the existing space by adding 9,000 square feet to the south and west of the historic structure. The addition is conceived as a transparent, glowing contemporary pavilion floating atop the adjacent Grand River. The program primarily comprises studio spaces for public creation, supplemented by a cafe-restaurant as a secondary, contiguous use.

The lower level of the building contains a black box theatre, film and audio recording suites, musical equipment for recording and perfor...