Description

Three black, monolithic blocks jutting from the hills of Medellín, Colombia, serve as a library for the neighborhood of Santo Domingo Savio, once believed to be one of the most violent in Latin America. At one time the domain of drug cartels, Medellín, like the rest of Colombia, has in the 21^st century undergone a dramatic transformation due to urban reform legislation. Law 388, enacted in 1997, required the drafting of public space renovation plans in the major cities and resulted in the Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial (POT). In the city of Medellín, Mayor Sergio Fajardo (2003–2007), a strong advocate for civic commitment, focused on rectifying social inequities in the most impoverished sectors of the city through the implementation of this plan.

The Santo Domingo Savio barrio is one such district that has benefited from Mayor Fajardo’s plan of “social urbanism”, which included a series of “library parks” to promote education, culture and recreation. Designed by Giancarlo Mazzanti in an open competition and completed in 2007, the 2,960 m² Parque Biblioteca España, named for Spain’s contribution towards the project, comprises two distinct parts: the three volumes constituting the library on the one hand and a platform that both integrates the separate buildings and provides a plaza and meeting place with striking views of the valley below. The irregular and monumental forms of the buildings loom above the surrounding simple brick houses of the barrio, engaging the mountainous landscape beyond.

The three discrete volumes correspond in function to the programmatic requirements of library, community center and auditorium. The center volume houses the library functions with three vertically stacked, double-height reading rooms surrounded by overlooking mezzanines filled with computer stations. The community center houses event space, classrooms, an exhibition area and a daycare center. The auditorium inhabits the third volume with seating that corresponds to the steep incline of the hillside.

The library and community center are double structures; the external envelope of stone tile is supported by a steel structure while the internal core is a poured-in-place concrete frame. The programmatic functions take place within the spaces of the internal core, physically and philosophically removed from the exterior that can only be glimpsed through a few openings in the facade. The double structure allows for the placement of skylights along the periphery of the roof between the two systems. Natural light washes down the multi-storied void between the exterior skin and interior core, augmenting the otherwise scarce daylight entering through the limited number of windows. The primarily blank facades were part of Mazzanti’s intent to create an inward-turning building for this community. He states that it “disconnects the people temporarily from their context” so as “to take people from this poor community into another place and change their reality.”

The monumental, boulder-like Parque Biblioteca España has changed the reality of the Santo Domingo barrio. Its iconic forms have become a symbol of the new Medellín, attracting a record number of visitors each day to what had once been an inaccessible district of 170,000. Where the Santo Domingo residents once endured a two-hour climb home from their workplace in the city center, this neighborhood is now connected by Metrocable, a mass transport rail with a stop leading directly to the Parque Biblioteca España. While the structure has not aged well – water damage, efflorescence and loss of facade tiles – due in part to low-skilled labor and a sophisticated construction, the project has succeeded in improving life in the community. As a “library park”, its function extends well beyond that of book lending to include business training, art gallery, community center, auditorium, gym space, children’s play area and an outdoor space. Most importantly, due to the courageous efforts of Mayor Fajardo, the Parque Biblioteca España has catalyzed a community and created a pride of place for this impoverished neighborhood.

Beth Broome, “Parque Biblioteca España“, Architectural Record, November 2008. http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0811parque-1.asp

---

Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.