The Library Garden
Sahra Hersi
Biblioteca Rafael Azcona
2026
The Library Garden is a small civic garden organised around a simple garden shed and a shared table where visitors can sit, talk and exchange seeds. Surrounded by drought-resistant planting, the space offers a public place for gardening, conversation and quiet gathering.
Inside the shed, terracotta pots and seeds are available for visitors to take away and plant, extending the project beyond the garden itself. The façade features bespoke tiles carrying symbols drawn from workshops held during the previous edition of the festival; these motifs, inspired by participants’ drawings of seeds, bees and plants, translate the community’s ideas about gardening into the architecture of the structure.
The project brings the domestic space of the garden into the public realm, creating a shared environment where cultivation, care and knowledge can circulate collectively. More than an object, it proposes a soft infrastructure for everyday civic life, in which the act of planting and sharing seeds weaves bonds between people and with the place.
With the support of
Sahra Hersi
Sahra Hersi is an artist and designer based in London whose practice focuses on public space, combining spatial design, material exploration and community collaboration. Trained as an architect, she develops installations and participatory environments that explore how shared spaces can sustain everyday civic life and collective memory. Her work often begins with conversations and workshops with local communities, which she transforms into spatial interventions capable of bringing care, intimacy and a certain domestic dimension into the public realm. Alongside her professional practice, she teaches on the BA Design programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.