(BDT_17_042) Biblioteca Pública de Ceuta

Description

The Biblioteca Pública de Ceuta is the unique combination of a library, an archaeological site and a visitors’ center. Completed in 2013, this 6,200 m² facility is the winning entry of a 2007 competition by the Madrid-based firm Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos. Situated on a promontory of the northern Moroccan coast, the project occupies a Janus-faced site at the confluence of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The project straddles not only bodies of water but through its architecture also the past and present history of this unique Spanish city, one of two autonomous Spanish territories on mainland Africa.

The Biblioteca Pública de Ceuta is located on the compact, sloping site of an archaeological excavation near the water’s edge. The facility comprises eight levels above ground, a ground level, and a below ground level. The program includes the requisite library functions of reading, collection, manuscript archive, children’s and teen library, audio-visual room, research labs and the remains of a 14^th century Marinid settlement. Remnants of an Arabic dynasty of Berber descent that ruled Ceuta from the 13^th to the 15^th century, these ruins are the focal point of the building and occupy a prominent, three-story open space on the ground level. Terraces with library functions open onto this space, providing a visual connection between the two programs. While accessed by separate entrances on different levels of the nearby streets, the library and visitors’ center are integrated as a single design by the archaeological ruins on the lower level.

The library’s geometry, a trapezoidal form with steps and folds, is derived from the intersection of overlapping urban grids. A rectangular form on one front aligns with the orthogonal contemporary city grid, while the triangular form on another front aligns with the medieval city of the ruins. The acknowledgement of both cities recognizes the existence of Arabic rule, a significant part of the city’s history prior to Spanish allegiance. Through the library’s form past and present are united within the building.

The structural concept for the building similarly focuses on the archaeological ruins as a demarcation of two systems, one concrete and one steel. The concrete structure wraps and supports the ruins and the lower levels that connect to the archaeological site. Seven triangular concrete columns – the geometry once again a product of the city grids – support the triple-height space of the archaeological finds. In counterpoint, the levels above the archaeological site are supported by a separate light-weight steel structure. The facades correspondingly divide into concrete and metal as distinctive exterior materials.

The concrete lower structure emerges, plinth-like, at the entry levels. The concrete surface reveals itself as a horizontal band, faceted and folded, around windows and entryways that are viewpoints towards the city and the water. Above the concrete base, the volume is clad in an energy-efficient aluminum skin. Differentiated by orientation through slight variations in make-up, the facade is a system of different layers; a habitable air space sandwiched between an internal glass layer and an outer perforated metal layer. They work together as “veils” in the North African climate to reduce solar gain and glare and to maximize the use of natural daylight.

The Biblioteca Pública de Ceuta is part of a new typology of public libraries in which library functions are enhanced through an expanded scope. Through the incorporation of additional and often unrelated programs, the library broadens its knowledge base, gaining new users. In this area of North Africa with a history encompassing both Arabic and Spanish rule, the integration of this past through architecture is also an act of acceptance.