There is no public library in the Staten Island neighborhood of Rossville, where the Islamic Center of Staten Island (ICSI) plans to build a school. Near the school’s future site, there are two massive, abandoned Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) tanks. This project proposes that the ICSI appropriates the tanks for the purpose of a theological public library. The waqf is an archive; the site is a library.
The library’s program was inspired by a conversation with Hiba Abid, the curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the New York Public Library. She voiced a desire to see the entire collection curated in one location, to see a library branch that keeps non-English materials, and to expand the diversity of the collection to include work from across the diaspora in the form of performing arts, audio files, handiwork, children’s books, zines, trash fiction, etc. Each building reflects a form of knowledge Hiba wishes to make accessible to the public.
