Description
Few building types offer architects as much scope to explore spatial ideas as the design of libraries. But changes in the library system and a shift in the role libraries play in society have redefined the basis on which this building type is founded. For architects, this can serve as a starting point for reconsidering the design of libraries.
At the most basic level, libraries are a collection of books, or the rooms in which these collections are stored and read. For architects, libraries also conjure up a whole range of associations: the book = a store of knowledge; the written word = a vehicle for transporting knowledge; and the library = a place in which we are surrounded by knowledge, a sanctuary for studying, a place of debate, and so on. In the design process, these archetypal images feed the architect’s creative imagination. But of the impressions that we associate with libraries, most have remained unchanged with one exception: the medium. The variety of different forms of data storage devices has expanded vastly, and continues to do so. Likewise, the spatial surroundings in which we seek information and broaden our knowledge is diversifying ever more. It is, perhaps, for this reason that the importance of libraries as actual places is growing.
In the libraries we have designed over the years, this aspect has always played a central role. The architecture of the library must not only fit into its urban context, but also strengthen the respective local situation. The library spaces themselves must provide a range of different spaces for meeting, relaxing and for working and concentrated study. The fact that libraries generally have large, spacious interiors makes them enjoyable places to be in and also enjoyable spaces to design. The building typology offers architects comparative freedom in developing spatial compositions that respond to the programmatic and functional requirements. This marks the beginning of a design process in which architectural ideas are successively distilled into a final concept. Although the end result may seem logical, or even quite natural, the final design is the product of an iterative process in which the architect has explored various avenues and weighed alternatives in the search for an appropriate solution. One factor that influences the course of the design process is the way in which the dialogue between the architects, the client and the end users is conducted. This may entail using certain tools for the design process – for example, sketches, diagrams, models or collages –, and these in turn have an impact on the development of a concept and the final design.
To illustrate the range of possible outcomes and different design approaches, we will take a closer look at three library buildings that we have designed, the first in 1988, the last completed in 2015. All three buildings were public commissions and each involved incorporating listed historical building substance, which made it necessary to evaluate different strategies and approaches. Each design has a fundamental conceptual idea and the three projects therefore each illustrate a different thematic focus and a different design process, which can serve as inspiration for other design tasks.
Thematic Principle: Path
The Gesundbrunnen district in Berlin originally grew around a mineral spring that was discovered in 1748 and became the focus of a health spa. From the mid-19th century onwards, it became a popular destination for outings and recreation outside the city. The Bibliothek am Luisenbad is a city library first designed in 1988 and completed in 1996. It is situated in a large, peaceful courtyard space in the interior of an urban block and has a total of 1,800 m² usable floor area. The building ensemble comprises three parts: two historical structures, namely the “Comptoir”, extended by a corridor housing the administrative offices, and the “Vestibule”, including the library foyer on the ground floor and a separately usable event space on the upper floor, were complemented by the third part, a demonstratively modern semi-circular addition housing the reading areas and bookshelves. The round building is surrounded by a courtyard with sculptures.
The design was the result of an open architecture competition, which meant that we had to rely largely on our own interpretation of the design task. (In competition design briefs, contradictory requirements often remain unresolved). We began, as described above, with an associative exploration of the formal imagery of the architectural typology, using sketches to conduct an internal dialogue on the nature of the library. At the same time, we explored the fascinating potential of the site, again using sketches as a means of reproducing its structural characteristics, its location in the urban realm and to develop an urban figure for the site.
Spatial Concept and Composition
The idea of creating a clear pathway through the site around which the design could be based emerged relatively quickly. The original historical route in what was then the environs of the city leads between two remaining sections of the original building fabric but was barely visible to all but those with good local knowledge. It nevertheless exerted a strong influence which needed to be partially revised: the location of the Luisenbad needed reconfiguring, while at the same time making its history legible.
Luisenbad Library, Berlin-Wedding, Chestnutt Niess, 1996. Sketches played a central role in the design process and in establishing a connection with the historical situation
The design sketches from the conceptual exploration phase show various ways of determining pathways and the definition of the courtyard. The sketches attempt to partially clarify the relationship between the two historical buildings, the entrance building to the demolished theater hall, the vestibule and the former administrative building, the “Comptoir”, and the public space between them. One of the first ideas was to bury a large part of the library spaces underground, thereby respecting the integrity of the courtyard and the experience of the remaining historical relics of the original complex. For the library itself, the idea of a large space emerged, reached via a path that should not follow the historical route, but instead follows the road alongside the River Panke that ends in the park, and leads via the courtyard to the existing entrance hall. From there, the motif of a ramp leading downwards was explored in various configurations. Together with the other objects in the space – a stair, a large meandering counter and the volumetric footprint of the entrance hall – the path is turned into a series of small events.
Architectural Means and Tectonics
The initial concept for a library submerged below ground already embodied the fundamental phenomenological attitude of the later design with its prominent semi-circular shape. It is a product of the tension between here and there, and the orchestration of the path between them. The boundaries and the individual parts of the interior are defined using clearly legible architectonic elements – an archway, the ceiling, a column, compartment, ramp, bridge and tower – as well as spatial situations such as niches, gaps, thresholds and islands.
The rear façade. The historical facade of the entrance, the semi-circular section housing the subterranean reading area and bookshelves, and Luisenbad Library.
The space between the historical buildings was conceived as a plateau from which one can look into the library interior and the bookshelves within. At the same time, the path directs one’s view out into the park, establishing a connection between the place and its surroundings. The ramp marks the transition from the realm of the old buildings to the new building, leading the visitor along a winding path that provides glimpses into the different parts of the library. This library space was not formed through a succession of spaces, nor a subdivision into rooms; rather it was created through a gradual process toward becoming the large interior semi-circular arc of the building.
Thematic Principle: The Aura of History
The new university library in Wildau, a small town southeast of Berlin, opened in 2007 on the campus of the Technische Hochschule Wildau, which is part of the historical site of the former Schwarzkopf factory complex. Built around 1900, the site comprised production facilities for manufacturing locomotives as well as housing for the workers. The program of spaces for an information, communication and media center was to be housed in one of the existing buildings, hall 10, located on an urban frontage delineated by the railway lines and defined by the characteristic gable-fronts vis-à-vis the housing estate. Together with the former director’s house, it forms a gateway situation at the Wildau train station. The original plans for hall 10 drawn up in 1920 show a building with seven bays, but the final building lacked the eastern-most bay. A temporary wall was built to keep out wind and weather and this building, unlike its neighbors facing the housing estate, thus lacked a representative gable frontage.
The design for the media center was developed in direct dialogue with the client and the end users. A fundamental part of the problem was the need to accommodate two primary functions of equal importance within the envelope of hall 10: the library on the one hand and the refectory and cafeteria on the other, together totaling 2,320 m². Both functions needed to be arranged on a single level, ideally with ground floor access, but neither the total area of the refectory and cafeteria nor that of the library fitted within the footprint of the historic hall 10.
Spatial Concept and Composition
The existing building has an industrial-utilitarian flair, but because it was never completed it also has an element of mystery to it that provided a starting point for the design concept. Although several stories high, the interior was always one large open space, lit by windows along the sides and a long skylight along the ridge that gives the space a particular, almost sacred feeling.
University library, Wildau, Chestnutt Niess, 2007. Models and sketches were used to develop the final concept
Usually, initial design explorations begin with the floor plan, but in this case we took the section as our starting point along with conceptual figurative sketches and a large-scale model. Our intention with the design concept was to complete the unfinished building and we therefore made a series of illustrations exploring different strategies for extending its form: should the building extension read as a drawer inserted into the building, a jacket that wraps around the end of the building, a reshaping of the existing building or a straightforward extrusion of its profile? Similar explorations followed for the configuration of the interior, including a free-standing framework, a series of terraces within the existing outside walls, or a house-in-house arrangement.
University library, Wildau, Chestnutt Niess, 2007. Models and sketches were used to develop the final concept
Of all the different strategies, the idea of a special space was judged most important. This has the capacity to serve as an emblematic space that signifies the university, and a favorite space for students who will remember it long after graduating. That meant converting the space – including introducing new levels – without compromising the overall impression of the fantastic, 15 m high historic interior, or detracting from its specific aura. The result is a complex composition of newly inserted floors that, depending on their direction and orientation within the space, stand apart from the outer walls, framing either a succession of loggias or large gallery spaces, or else extend right up to the walls where the spaces are more intimate. The focus of this large spatial constellation is the central atrium of the library beneath the distinctive skylight roof construction.
University library, Wildau. The transverse section shows the new floor levels
Architectural Means and Tectonics
In developing the architectural design, we concentrated on approaches to dealing with the unfinished envelope of the historic structure. Both the building’s tectonic structure and connotation as well as its urban position as one of a row of gable-fronted factory buildings along the railway line opposite the housing estate, proved relevant for the design process. In the context of its historic surroundings, the dimensions of the new building could not exceed the originally planned volume of the structure. In the end, we opted to extend the historic form of the building, continuing its structural pattern, proportions and fenestration in an abstracted form. The new gable at the east end of the building was given an iconography of its own that reflects its contemporary function as a university library in the context of technological development and its history.
Thematic Principle: Composition
A former fire station, now a listed building in the historically predominantly industrial district of Niederschöneweide in Berlin, has been converted and extended to serve as a district library with a total usable floor area of 2,300 m². It opened in 2015. The key factors influencing the project design were the need to make maximum use of the site, its location on a busy road and the emblematic character of the fire station building, built at the turn of the last century.
District library, Berlin-Niederschöneweide, Chestnutt Niess, 2015. The architectural form of the new extension, developed using a model, acts as a counterpoint to the expressive roofscape of the old fire station.
After an initial rational analysis of potential massing alternatives and corresponding volumetric forms, two sketches were taken forward for further exploration using a model. A new building would have to respond to the eclectic expressionism of the historic building. The design of the new extension therefore focused on ways of creating an ensemble together with the existing building and its expressive roofscape.
Spatial Concept and Composition
The difficult shape of the plot quickly determined the direction of the design process: the new building would take the form of a dynamic spiral with the historic tower as its point of origin. At the other end of the spiral, the building meets the road at a right angle so that it encloses a contemplative courtyard between the existing and new buildings. The sculptural articulation of the building volume as a modern continuation of the roofscape of the existing building was studied in numerous model variants. The roof line descends from back to front, lowering the eaves line around the courtyard so that it matches the scale of the existing buildings, linking the two.
To maximize the use of the site, the building mass is pushed as close as possible to the edge of the site, enclosing the courtyard in the center, while the staggered slanting roofscape of the old building is continued in the articulation of the roof of the new spiral-shaped extension. The form of the spiral is primarily a product of the building height in relation to how far away it must be placed from the plot boundaries: the lower the building height, the nearer it can be placed to the boundary. The overall composition continues the architectonic principle of the historic building, which comprises individually articulated volumes joined together to form a sculptural whole.
District Library, Berlin-Niederschöneweide. The site plan shows the short distance between the building and its neighbors and the location next to a busy road (left); The section illustrates the conversion and extension of a historic listed fire station (right).
The spatial link between the existing building and the new extension, both within as well as outside the building is achieved by creating reciprocal views into and out of the large glazed areas and across the courtyard. The fire engine garage, the balcony and projecting bay as well as the different roof forms of the former fire station, which was originally built for fire practice purposes to train for emergency situations, are made visible from the ground and lower ground floors. Likewise, one can see directly from the fire station’s garage into the new building.
The interior of the new library has three levels, the top two of which – the ground and upper floors – are set back as gallery levels. Cut-outs in the ceiling, clerestories and large sections of glazing in the facade steer the flow of space and establish an interplay with the building’s immediate surroundings. For example, one has a view of the historic pump house and the large school building and fencing gymnasium, which were built around the same time as the fire station. The spatial interplay between the levels and between the new and historic parts of the complex respects the different parts of the building and allows each to achieve their own specific identity.
Architectural Means and Tectonics
In terms of how the new and old buildings form an ensemble, the materiality of the new extension is an important aspect. The use of pre-patinated zinc sheeting for the external skin inverts the physical mass of the roof of the existing building and lends the new extension a sense of sculptural solidity that sets up a dialogue with the tectonic structure of the fire station. The large glazed surfaces are arranged like cut-outs in the external skin, structuring the building form and lending it a sense of lightness. The sculptural articulation of the new extension allows the solid red brick building of the fire station to take center stage.
The Search for a Central Design Theme
The three projects described above show different approaches to the question of how important a strong underlying thematic idea is for the success of an architectural design. For us, this is very important. In the design process – that slow process of translating an architectural idea into something concrete – architects not only need to satisfy the requirements of the brief but also, in their efforts to invest their work with an individual character and location-specific identity, to identify a defining theme and to make this apparent to the building’s users and visitors.
Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.