Autonomous Libraries (AL) was an R&D project where we asked: what would a library look like if we designed it from scratch for the age of digital knowledge production? Instead of one big central building, AL imagined a distributed network of hybrid knowledge spaces — modular, self-managed, community-run, and spread across everyday environments like coffeehouses, squares, or train stations.

We combined all the core technologies we had developed at Suslib — Knowledge Recognition for semantic search and contextual linking, Intention Recognition for gesture- and object-based interaction, and lightweight AR interfaces to connect digital and physical resources. The result was a new kind of space: one where you could pick up a book and instantly see its digital context, annotate a page with thoughts and images, or continue reading seamlessly on your device after leaving.

As a team, we treated AL as both a design research exercise and a technological prototype. I led the engineering direction, ensuring our APIs and ML systems could integrate into a hybrid physical-digital environment, while collaborating closely with Martijn on interaction design and Studio Helioripple on modular architectural systems.

AL was never meant to be a single app or product, but a vision of community-driven, resilient, non-commercial knowledge infrastructure — one that could exist anywhere in the city, belong to everyone, and evolve with new forms of knowledge production.

with Martijn de Heer (co-founder, designer), Studio Helioripple (Amin Bahrami)