Description

The competition-winning design by Degelo Architekten in 2006, with its folded glass façades rising at different angles, promised to be an open, bright building of great lightness and friendliness – a transparent house of books. The result, however, is a solitary building whose façades isolate it more from its surroundings than connect it. Located on the site of the previous building, the university library is part of the university’s city centre campus and lies diagonally opposite the red sandstone Kollegiengebäude 1 from 1911, with the city’s theatre to the north. The previous building from 1978 was in a poor condition, with asbestos contamination, insufficiently dimensioned building services and concrete damage. The original plan was to dismantle it down to its concrete frame and access cores, then to cut strategically into the concrete structure and envelop it in a new skin of folded planes of glass.

But after reducing the old building to its shell, it became apparent that the concrete ceilings were not sufficient to sustain the required loads. The ceilings and columns were therefore also demolished, leaving only the access cores and the three basement floors with the library’s closed stacks remaining of the original plan. The latter was crucial, as it meant that the library’s stock of 3.5 million books did not have to be moved during the construction period. A former underground car park was converted into a storage area for 400 bicycles and another book lending area. The new façades are tilted planes with a staggered and shifting pattern of glazed and chrome steel panels that almost look as if they could slide across the façade. During the day, one has no indication of the individual storeys within. This only becomes apparent at night when the building lights up! Fortunately, the library is open around the clock all year round.

Inside, the impression is altogether different. Entering from the campus in the east, one is greeted by a bright and open foyer. During the day, the library is always busy, and the ground floor is a lively meeting place. Freiburg has 25,000 students and the library can accommodate 1700 at any one time, 500 more than previously. In the foyer, one’s eye is drawn to a freestanding wooden box within the interior that serves as the delightfully named café “Libresso”, and the arcing curve of the wooden information desk. From the first floor upwards, the building is divided into two main areas: a more open area with the “Parlatorium” to the north – where talking is allowed. Numerous different seating configurations allow people to work here in groups. This highly communicative area with around 500 seats is spacious and extensive.

The southern part of the building is entirely different. After passing the information desk on the ground floor, one reaches the reading rooms on the first to fourth floors. While in the northern part, a cascading hall rises behind the façade, to the south, designed for concentrated work in comparative silence, an atrium with stairs creates a sense of spaciousness. Glass walls between the two different functional zones of the library allow a view through the building. The views of the theatre and the Old Synagogue Square are impressive, especially from the Parlatorium on the north side. The reading rooms have small rows of tables with screens facing each other. The “swan-neck” table lamps were specially designed for the library, and the lounge chairs for relaxed reading in front of the windows are by Vitra. The finishes in the interior are predominantly simple with light-coloured exposed concrete, carefully detailed and finished right down to the edges. While installations under the ceiling are visible, most of them are concealed in the floor cavity above. The overall ecological concept includes 7,000 sensors that analyse temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and also movement in the building. The solar control glazing is triple insulated, with anti-glare blinds on the inside. A photovoltaic system on the roof provides energy, and geothermal cooling of the concrete core utilises a nearby groundwater source to provide climate-neutral cooling. Despite the extensive glazing, the new building’s energy consumption is around half that of the previous building.

Originally published in Bauwelt 46.2015, pp. 16–27, abridged and edited for Building Types Online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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