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Armstrong Atlantic State University, Lane Library, Savannah, Georgia

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Madison Public Library

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Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library, Parma-Snow Branch

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Syracuse University Law Library

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Study lighting and use of the edges of study floors

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Study lighting and use of the edges of study floors

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Melbourne grammar school

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Robert W. Woodruff Library: Atlanta University Center (AUC) Library

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Library design - Study area by longbow0508

Digital Art / 3-Dimensional Art / Scenes / Interiors

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Baghdad Library

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Plus use of the roof as a garden / pathway: Stockholm Library Design Contest - entry by JDS Architects

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Biblioteca Pública St. Louis / Cannon Design

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Grey acoustic baffles

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Use of acoustic baffles within the design

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From the architect. The initial library, dating from the 70s showed architectural and energetic deficiencies and had to be rebuilt. By cutting away parts of the building, Degelo Architects not only reduced the disproportionately large volume of the old library, but also made the building react to its urban context. Thus the building became a cut diamond. The façade of this crystalline sculpture is composed of electrochemically treated chrome steel.

The façade sees itself as an interface, which communicates between university and city. Depending on the time of day, the neoclassical façades of the surrounding are mirrored or the activities of the students become visible from the outside.

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Library in Freiburg / Degelo Architekten + IttenbrechBühl

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27 From the architect. The initial library, dating from the 70s showed architectural and energetic deficiencies and had to be rebuilt. By cutting away parts of the building, Degelo Architects not only reduced the disproportionately large volume of the old library, but also made the building react to its urban context.

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FIRST PRIZE CIUTAT DE BARCELONA AWARD 2014 ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
FIRST PRIZE CATALUNYA CONSTRUCCIÓ AWARDS 2015 SITE SUPERVISIONS
NOMINATION EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE - MIES VAN DER ROHE AWARD 2015

The motto with which the project was presented in the ideas competition was 'Garden of Light'. These two words sum up the two ideas of the project: maintaining and improving the existing garden, and yet, obtain joyful and well lit spaces.
The library inserts under the garden Vil*la Florida under the shade of its trees. The new building fits under the ground like a child hides (to read a book) under a carpet. Inside, a landscape in itself, articulated and changing where each use and each user find their place. It is a personalized and unique space.

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FIRST PRIZE CIUTAT DE BARCELONA AWARD 2014 ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISMFIRST PRIZE CATALUNYA CONSTRUCCIÓ AWARDS 2015 SITE SUPERVISIONSNOMINATION EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE - MIES VAN DER ROHE AWARD 2015 The motto with which the project was presented in the ideas competition was 'Garden of Light'.

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Fakulta riadenia a informatiky Žilinskej univerzity v Ružomberku

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Fakulta riadenia a informatiky Žilinskej univerzity v Ružomberku

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Architects

Location

Fakulta riadenia a informatiky Žilinskej univerzity v Ružomberku, Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku, Hrabovská cesta, 034 01 Ruzomberok-Ružomberok, Slovakia

Project Year

Photographs

Architectural Design

Ing. Arch. Stanislav Šutvaj, A02 Ateliér, Dolný Kubín Ing. Ján Potoma, A-Projekt, Ružomberok

Collaborator

General Designer

Senior Project Engineer

Ing. Ján Potoma, Ing. Arch. Stanislav Šutvaj

General Contractor

Swietelsky Slovakia, Spol. S.R.O.

From the architect. The idea of the future sprawl of the Catholic University premises in Ružomberok was already outlined in an architectural and urban design competition for a university campus in 2006. The project of a new library was prepared in 2009 - 2010 and the construction itself started in July 2011. The library building is part, respectively the first phase of the university campus design. Residence halls, superstructures of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and the Faculty of Education buildings, the Faculty of Law building, a chapel, new auditorium, concert hall and underground parking should be completed in the future steps following the complete spatial development study.

The building offers students and the public an access to about 700,000 volumes, approximately 500 study areas, conference and exhibition spaces and other additional facilities on an area of approximately 5 000 m2 designated for public functions. Due to the requirements for the library to be a modern tool of time providing information and a wide range of education or cultural and social life, the space is designed to be open and multifunctional with several ways of resource search and studies, offering secondary opportunities (e.g. lectures, training, publishing, literary and artistic club activities, multimedia activities, cultural and social events).

From an architectural point of view, the library is interconnected to the existing (or the anticipated) volume and operational campus structure whose basis is formed by the original structure by architect Škorupa. The operation of publicly accessible spaces of the library is divided into three above ground floors and one underground floor (including the part of the fourth above ground floor with clubs, cultural and social spaces).

The ground floor consists of entrance spaces, information and control zone (registration, circulation desk), library's spaces - catalogues, quick choice sections (textbooks, magazines, internet, freely accessible library stock, study areas and working points). There are open mezzanine levels extending from the library's entrance area through all public floors, being the vertical center of communication.

The second and third above ground floors contain sections of freely accessible library stocks, study areas (including a quiet study room and offices for smaller groups), conference and multimedia rooms.

The fourth above ground floor has a specific nature that enables the visitors to view the library as a multifunction hub offering club activities (literary, artistic or a mix of artistic genres), cultural and social activities (presentations of literature and art works, exhibitions, openings, space for discussion forums, multimedia presentations, etc.). This includes the use of the roof space on the 3rd elevated floor as an open space for exhibitions or assembling. This space is also interconnected with a small coffee lounge at the entrance of the library.

The building has been implemented as a monolithic reinforced skeleton. The facade is of vertically structured, metallic Alucobond panels with inserted aluminum windows, supporting the used raster. The building parts are complemented with a whole glazed facade (the administrative part of the building, the entrance area of the library, part of the study areas).

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33 Architects Fakulta riadenia a informatiky Žilinskej univerzity v Ružomberku, Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku, Hrabovská cesta, 034 01 Ruzomberok-Ružomberok, Slovakia Project Year Photographs Ing. Arch. Stanislav Šutvaj, A02 Ateliér, Dolný Kubín Ing. Ján Potoma, A-Projekt, Ružomberok Collaborator General Designer Ing. Ján Potoma, Ing. Arch. Stanislav Šutvaj Swietelsky Slovakia, Spol. S.R.O.

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Text description provided by the architects. The opening ceremony for the new Stuttgart City Library by Yi Architects was on October 21, 2011. After winning a competition for the project in 1999, the new library for Stuttgart in southern Germany has finally been unveiled. Yi Architects have shared with us the drawings and images of the project. Follow us after the break.

The site for the Stuttgart City Library was chosen in Mailänder Platz, an area that is perceived to be a future city centre growing out of the location of the library. With this in mind, the architects chose to physically express the importance of this cultural centre by giving the building a grand physical presence. The building takes the form of cube with an edge length of 45 meters.

It is constructed out of pale grey fair-faced concrete that visually frames an array of 9 x 9 frosted glass bricks. The shell is designed as a double façade that includes the glass brick level and an inner mullion/transom façade as the thermal building shell.

The form and symmetry of entrance of the building was inspired by the "Cenotaph for Newton" by Étienne Boullée, but the heart and core of the library follows the design of the ancient pantheon. Protected by a secondary façade, the cube-shaped room is situated in the middle of the building and is illuminated by a central roof light. In the center is a 1 m² fountain that ties the space as a meditative area.

The gallery hall is a five-story space, square-shaped and surrounded by a shell of books. The interior circulation is arranged in a spiral among the reading gallery areas, designed to be flowing promenades flooded with light from the glass roof. The forum, a third central room, is located below the heart. This is an event room which is in proximity to the light-railway line that crosses the first and second basement floors.

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11 Text description provided by the architects. The opening ceremony for the new Stuttgart City Library by Yi Architects was on October 21, 2011. After winning a competition for the project in 1999, the new library for Stuttgart in southern Germany has finally been unveiled.

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Ryerson University Student Learning Centre; Toronto by Snøhetta

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Ryerson University Student Learning Centre; Toronto by Snøhetta

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Snøhetta has completed a student centre for Ryerson University in downtown Toronto, featuring chamfered edges and a patterned glass facade (+ slideshow).

Encompassing 14,200 square metres and rising eight levels, the Student Learning Centre (SLC) is a prominent addition to Ryerson University's urban campus.

The university, founded in 1948, has 38,000 students and is known for its engineering and business programs.

"Previously, the campus did not have a recognisable presence within the city, with most of the academic buildings housed within the existing building fabric or set back from major streets," said Snøhetta, which now has offices in Norway, Austria and the US.

The firm - working with executive architect Zeidler Partnership Architects - set out to create a building that provides much-needed space for studying and socialising.

The building also establishes an identity for the university and better connects it to the cityscape.

"Inspired by the historical gathering spaces of the Stoas and Agoras in ancient Greece, where learning was inherently social, the lively SLC gives students eight uniquely designed floors of generous space to meet, study and exchange ideas," said the firm.

Plans unveiled for Toronto park that will stretch under a highway

"Conceived as a library without books, the design develops natural conditions for groups of people to interact while also offering areas for controlled and introspective study."

The concrete structure is clad in digitally printed fritted glass, which minimises solar heat gain and results in varying light conditions within the building.

The facade's pattern, consisting of asymmetrical shapes, is intended to frame views of the city.

"Functioning like cloud cover, the frit modulates the light quality to range from 'overcast' to 'partly cloudy' to 'sunny' to further diversify the interior conditions and allow students to have a different experience every time they visit the building," the firm said.

The student centre is situated along Yonge Street, a busy retail corridor. The architects incorporated shops into the ground level of the building, "maintaining the retail presence locals expect in the district".

The main entrance is on the south, where lower portions of the facade are chiselled away. A broad staircase and seating area sit below a canopy supported by angled concrete columns.

"Part plaza, part porch, this elevated space creates a welcoming yet protected urban edge shared by students and the general public that both exhibits university life while giving students a place to view the city," said Snøhetta.

The canopy is clad in iridescent, hand-folded metal panels, which extends from the building's exterior into the lobby.

"Its striking colour and unusual form makes passerby stop and look up," said the firm. "These small and unexpected physical movements added to our daily routine shift one's relationship to and awareness of place."

The light-filled lobby contains a cafe, an information desk and informal seating areas. The space serves as a venue for various events, ranging from fashion shows to musical performances.

A grand stair leads from the lobby to a new bridge that connects the SLC to a neighbouring library building.

Hovering above the lobby is a digital media lab and incubator space for emerging tech start-ups, called Launch Zone.

Each floor in the student centre has a theme inspired by nature.

The Beach, for instance, is an open an casual study area with a series of ramps and terraces. The Sky, which occupies the top level, features high ceilings and ample natural light.

"Uniquely coloured elevators and stair landings punctuate navigation throughout the building with surprises, without disorienting the visitor," said Snøhetta.

"The Student Learning Centre is a building that demands to be engaged with," the firm added. "It breaks the routine rhythms and movements of daily student life, empowering its visitors to take full measure of their bearings and ownership of their space."

Other student centres in urban contexts include The University Center in Manhattan by SOM and a new art school campus in Mexico City by Enrique Norten.

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Snøhetta completes student centre in downtown Toronto

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Snøhetta has completed a student centre for Ryerson University in downtown Toronto, featuring chamfered edges and a patterned glass facade (+ slideshow). Encompassing 14,200 square metres and rising eight levels, the Student Learning Centre (SLC) is a prominent addition to Ryerson University's urban campus.

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http://coulon-architecte.fr/projet/558/thionville

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and her Instagram feed
https://www.instagram.com/gemma.l.john/

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As a tourist, travelling in Singapore with at least three mobile devices is easy. I could logon to the Internet in most enclosed spaces via 'Wireless@SG. ​ Wireless@SG is Singapore's largest...

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Warsaw University Library - living walls and roof garden 

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Warsaw University Library - living walls and roof garden 

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The car park is hidden beneath part of the roof garden - landscaping option for the south facing back of building?
TripAdvisor images:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g274856-d2037685-Reviews-University_of_Warsaw_Library-Warsaw_Mazovia_Province_Central_Poland.html#photos;geo=274856&detail=2037685
Official site
http://www.buw.uw.edu.pl/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=286&Itemid

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"Philologische Bibliothek Berlin" by Norman Foster Architects

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"Philologische Bibliothek Berlin" by Norman Foster Architects

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products  "philologische bibliothek berlin" by norman foster architects

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"Philologische Bibliothek Berlin" by Norman Foster Architects

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Philologische Bibliothek Berlin Free Photography Project University Berlin Library Building by Foster + Partners Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. Reading, for the sake of knowledge or enjoyment, or to explore the world of the human imagination, is one of those experiences that gives you a sense of emotional and spiritual richness quite different from economic or monetary well-being. In this sense, the act of creating a space that surrounds you with books is undoubtedly linked to the creation of a new, enriched sense of public values.

Libraries in Japan are moving towards a model that encourages readers to stay and linger, instead of their original function as spaces for collecting and lending out books. Reflecting the general trend for libraries to facilitate reading as well as other functions, this library uses compact automated shelves that operate as a closed stack system.

This is combined with halls and meeting rooms that promote social exchange between its users, much like a community center. The facility is also expected to serve as a new hub for social life among the local community.

For a public library such as this, we thought that the most important thing to have would be a reading room that provides visitors with a pleasant, comfortable space to read. This environment would allow users to experience the joy of reading while surrounded by a treasure trove of books with a overwhelming physical presence, something that the convenience of electronic and digital books cannot offer.

For this project, we proposed a simple space measuring 45m by 45m with a height of about 12m, enclosed by a "punching wall" and supported by 25 pillars that would function as a storehouse for books and a hub for human communication. This huge, massive volume served as a reading space while keeping with the mood and setting of a library.

What we wanted to do, in other words, was to design a certain "atmosphere" for books and reading. This library consists of a single quiet and tranquil room that resembles a forest, filled with soft light and a feeling of openness reminiscent of the outdoors. One successful example of such a space is the old Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library) in Paris designed by Henri Labrouste, a masterpiece that was built using the most advanced steel construction technologies of the 19th century.

The building represents a continuous relationship that brings books and humans together even as it changes and evolves, transcending time and history. This simple box-like form also contains within it a certain freedom; however, this is a space that permits a composite mix of various media that will continue to change and evolve against the backdrop of an information-centered age.

The overall structure of the library resembles an internal three-layered floor covered with a large box that we refer to as a "cake box". The large external "punching wall" in the cavernous reading room features some 6,000 small openings (measuring 200, 250 and 300mm) across its entire surface that allow a soft, uniform light to enter the building. In addition, the burden of seismic force from any earthquakes is dispersed across the entire expanse of this wall.

A floor heating system that warms and cools the building under the floor has been installed in order to make this large space comfortable to inhabit, while large natural ventilation openings in the roof ensure a pleasant and comfortable indoor environment during the warmer months.

Calibrated and calculated with the utmost precision, this beautiful "cake box" space will hopefully become a new symbol of the western part of Kanazawa, a city that continues to face rapid urbanization.

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Kanazawa Umimirai Library / Coelacanth K&H Architects

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21 Text description provided by the architects. Reading, for the sake of knowledge or enjoyment, or to explore the world of the human imagination, is one of those experiences that gives you a sense of emotional and spiritual richness quite different from economic or monetary well-being.

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University of Indonesia Central Library / Denton Corker Marshall

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University of Indonesia Central Library / Denton Corker Marshall

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Text description provided by the architects. Selected in an open design competition, the scheme by Denton Corker Marshall for a new library for a university of international standing deftly bridges the past and the present. Located in a highly visible and central site on the side of the campus lake, its circular form responds to the strong circular buildings and roadways that distinguish the campus pattern. Conceived as earth architecture, it cleverly integrates building and landscape to become an occupied tropical landform. More images and architects' description after the break.

A series of towers projects from the landform. Conceptually, they take inspiration from the ancient Indonesian practice of inscribing wisdom on stone tablets. The traditional reference makes the leap into modern day Indonesia as a series of abstracted stone tablets - 'prasasti' - rising from the circular grass-covered earth mound. The granite clad tablets of varying heights are 'carved' with narrow glazed bands allowing filtered light into the volumes below.

The circular landform is eroded on the lakeside opening up an amphitheatre with mature mahogany trees overlooking the lake. As well as identifying the main entry, this erosion allows light into the interior volume. The mound houses book stacks within five storeys, located on the outer edge of the circular plan. Beneath an insulating soil cover and concrete roof, rare manuscripts, books and research/reference materials are stored in a stable ambient temperature away from direct sunlight. Solid stone cladding and narrow bands of glazing further reduce heat gain, reducing the air conditioning load.

Closer to the center of the volume are reading areas which vary in form, depending on the shape of the individual tablets, from large open plan spaces to intimate reading rooms. Overlooking the lake, the upper floors house a variety of meeting and seminar rooms. By replacing faculty and departmental libraries, which previously scattered student activities, and incorporating new facilities - plaza, food court, bank, retail and a temporary exhibition space - the library becomes the university's new student hub, a site for interaction with others, as well as with knowledge.

Internal navigation is clearly conceived; open interiors offer clear lines of sight and encourage interaction. Vertical transportation is predominantly via pedestrian ramps, encouraging readers to walk rather than use lifts, and to enjoy the interior's spatial qualities. A series of curvilinear ramps occupies the void between the stacks and reading rooms. Skylights marking axes of significance are cut into the mound above the lobbies and book stacks.

Rain water is captured for use on site, waste water is treated and recycled and energy consumption is minimized. Maintaining existing mature trees and vegetation on the 2.5 hectare site is an important part in the design which, together with green roofs, ensures a large area of the site is retained as landscape. An inspiring landmark, the library belongs to and enhances the university campus.

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University of Indonesia Central Library / Denton Corker Marshall

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11 Text description provided by the architects. Selected in an open design competition, the scheme by Denton Corker Marshall for a new library for a university of international standing deftly bridges the past and the present.

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Library Technical University, Delft, Netherlands

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Library Technical University, Delft, Netherlands

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Library Technical University, Delft, Netherlands

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The library of Delft Technical University is the central library of the Netherlands, but also the technical library of the Netherlands, linked by the latest electronic devices to libraries all over the world. The university library not only offers space to books, it also offers space for knowledge and research.

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Calgary's New Central Library and Library Plaza

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Calgary's New Central Library and Library Plaza

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Calgary's New Central Library and Library Plaza

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In 2013, Snøhetta and DIALOG's competition-winning design was selected for the new Calgary Public Library. Following a two year process of com...

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Designing Libraries - Designing Libraries

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The centre for library design and innovation: a resource for planning and design, a database of library building projects and a marketplace for services.

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Miyagi Library Building – design by Toyo Ito, architect

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+ 13

Text description provided by the architects. With the intentions of designing a transparent cultural media center that is supported by a unique system to allow complete visibility and transparency to the surrounding community, the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito is revolutionary in it's engineering and aesthetic.

Six steel-ribbed slabs slabs, each 15-3/4" thick, appear to float from the street, supported by only thirteen vertical steel lattice columns that stretch from ground plane to the roof. This striking visual quality that is one of the most identifiable characteristics of the project is comprable to large trees in a forest, and function as light shafts as well as storage for all of the utilities, networks and systems.

Each plan is free form, as the structural column lattices are independent of the facade and fluctuate in diameter as they stretch from floor to floor.

The simplest intentions of focusing on plates (floors), tubes (columns), and skin (facade/exterior walls) allows for a poetic and visually intriguing design, as well as a complex system of activities and informational systems.

The four largest tubes are situated at the corners of the plates, which serve as the principle means of support and bracing. Five of the nine smaller tubes are straight and contain elevators, while the other four are more crooked and carry the ducts and wires.

Upon approaching the Sendai Mediatheque, the public is led into a continuation of the surrounding city into the double height hall of the main entrance through large panes of glass. This open square includes a cafe, retail shop, and community space that is capable of supporting film screenings and other events.

Another aspect unique to this building is the involvement of many designers, as the interior of each level incorporated another person. Kazuyo Sejima designed the ground floor, placing the administrative offices behind a translucent screen.

The Shimin Library found on the second and third levels include a browsing lounge complete with internet access and specially designed furniture by K.T. Architecture.

The gallery space of the fourth and fifth levels contain a flexible exhibition space with moveable walls, and also a more static space with fixed walls and a rest area with seating designed by Karim Rashid. Ross Lovegrove took charge of the sixth level, adding a 180 seat cinema and green and white furniture fitting to the audio-visual multimedia library.

The tree-like nature of the metal columns of the Mediatheque are continuous with the natural surroundings of the area, as the design is found on a street lined with trees.

The building changes along with the seasons, it's openness reflective of the summer green and also the streets during winter.

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AD Classics: Sendai Mediatheque / Toyo Ito & Associates

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13 Text description provided by the architects. With the intentions of designing a transparent cultural media center that is supported by a unique system to allow complete visibility and transparency to the surrounding community, the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito is revolutionary in it's engineering and aesthetic.

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Spijkenisse is a 13th-century town twinned with Thetford in Norfolk. It has a shorter Wikipedia entry than any of the partners of MVRDV. Although technically within the Rotterdam conurbation, creating the sense of a distinct town is still an ambition of its councillors. The Book Mountain library is part of a three-phase regeneration project which involved the rehabilitation of its commercial and civic centres.

MVRDV originally won the library competition in 2003, the building was completed in May 2012, the precinct and surrounding housing in September. The iconic 'barn' form of the building realises the ambition of landscape architect and urban designer Winy Maas to register the historic fabric of the area, as if the architecture were the culmination of refining an agricultural process. The building is intended to glow as a 'beacon' challenging the declining levels of library use and literacy across the Netherlands and particularly in Spijkenisse. But does this impression work in practice in a built-up town?

Unlike its flatland pen-friend, Thetford, Spijkenisse is a town that has been furiously re-thought by energetic architects with a back catalogue of housing projects articulating several generations of postwar dialogue over social rehabilitation and housing reform. Arriving by train, a Byker-Wall-size block is foregrounded by a 1980s brick terraced estate saved from resembling Brookside by its slightly more sophisticated roof forms. The space between the two is animated by a real model farm complete with large sows and brightly painted timber barns. Bob Dylan might have muttered 'housing project hill' to himself but of course all is very, very flat.

The shopping precinct, swiftly erected by Sjoerd Soeters, offers a jumbled set of eclectic vernacular and decorative references that somehow satisfy shoppers by reassuring them that they are not actually occupying the dreary town they live in, but belong to a global marketplace in a similar way to the Cape Cod / Bicester Village experience. The precinct unexpectedly swallows up the old town's dyke which is surmounted by a slightly rusty escalator feeding you into the more windswept-feeling original civic centre. Ironically, a nearby windmill, surrounded by new developments that threatened its access to gusts, has had to be raised. It spins somewhat more frenetically than it might previously have done.

The urban setting of the library is unexpectedly quiet. Although the original brief did not incorporate the housing element, the open site provided the unusual opportunity for the architects to establish and secure the scale and disposition of most of the library's neighbouring relationships. The open space in front of the building sets it squarely in conversation with the church opposite.The ground is paved to delineate the much denser plan of houses and fields that stood on the site in the 17th century. The names of previous occupants are carved at the thresholds. Window openings are marked in the stone plan and LED lights demarcate the same ghosts at night.

The raking of the paving to accommodate level changes, bicycle stands and steps, although carried out with only supervision rather than full direction by the architects, is still commensurately part of the whole. At the rear, the central house and ground it sits on are peeled up and tilted to admit two storeys of parking beneath the library building. The lights that illuminate the streetscape are the same as those used inside the library, further unfolding its potential.

MVRDV's bold presentation and apparently simple geometrical concepts can lodge a set of fairly intransigent doubts in the magazine beholder of their work. The architects claim to approach each building typology afresh (excluding housing). The office is populated by ambitious models at all scales and all 56 members of staff apparently consume Emmental sandwiches and orange juice for lunch together at a long table every day, like an order of happy co-ed monks. As their first built library, Spijkenisse subverts many well-established precedents. Anticipating a building that might be an environmental disaster, a cross between the Luxor pyramid in Las Vegas and Stirling's library of sweaty or freezing historians in Cambridge, the scheme proves to be unexpectedly sophisticated in its consideration of climate and acoustics.

The MVRDV approach is disarmingly pragmatic. Their competition proposal set about claiming the maximum volume for books within an envelope that met local planning guidelines for the height of the ridge in relation to the church, the eaves height and a 45-degree pitch. By imagining a barn-like envelope, the volume of the books and reading areas was sketch-modelled like a pile of hay bales and so they were able to offer considerably more volume of library space than had been requested. In fact, climbing over sound-absorbing hay bales and finding privacy within a huge enclosure is a good way to imagine the space.

Thanks to imaginative interpretation of technical advice, the building has amazingly sound-deadening qualities while still offering open visual navigation of the space. Perforated mesh behind the brick facings of the core pyramid soaks up distracting conversations that are out of sight remarkably successfully. The architects learnt from the librarians that the books had a short shelf life, that none of the books was rare or had any value, and therefore protecting their spines from fading under UV light was not an issue. This observation fundamentally justified and enabled the otherwise sacrilegious ambition of creating a daylit bubble for a library. In exposing the books to the town, the traditional strategy of securing and protecting books from the damage caused to them by light and readers is completely reversed.

While accessibility and legibility are cherished, unlike many other buildings of its type − including Will Alsop's Peckham Library or Labrouste's Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève − this message is not delivered as an inscription or a legible sign: the books themselves are used as the visible sign and physical manifestation of the possibility offered by the library. It cannot be a coincidence that Bruegel's 'little' Tower of Babel painting lives in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen − less than a mile from MVRDV's office.

The brickwork is apparently continuous from inside to out, like Isi Metzstein's at Robinson College. It forms the external skin of the domestic buildings and the roof tiles are not only coloured but also gauged to align with the perpend joints of the brick copings at the top of the gable ends. The glass canopy of the library indeed frames it as a lantern, the beacon that the architects intended the building to become.

The other reasons that a glazed envelope for a library would commonly be dispensed with early on in the design process are the failure to provide adequate thermal comfort without significant energy wastage, and the very obvious challenge of providing comfortable visual conditions for reading without excessive glare. However, both the environmental strategy and the detail of the envelope at Spijkenisse library address these issues head-on. Different environmental consultants were engaged at sketch and detailed design stages. The ambition was to create a very 'calm' thermal and visual environment.

Although being designed before the age of certification, the scheme design set out to minimise environmental impacts from its competition stage. It contains two ground-source heat pumps and the central brick core has perforations at the top and beneath all the bookcases that are used as the orifices of a whole building mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system. The thermal currents running up and down the glazed envelope are directed to contribute to the circulation of the system. Underfloor heating offers continuous stable temperatures while steel sandwich panels, which are apparently brick faced, contain phase change materials to cool ceilings in summer.

The overarching skin is less of a slick one-liner than its photographs suggest. The skin is supported by a structure of 1m-deep glue-laminated timber portal frames set only 1.35 metres apart. This means that the frames in themselves are fins projecting into the space, and are able to provide a considerable degree of solar shading, acting as vertical louvres. An impressive amount of pipework, as well as the adjustable shading blinds, are concealed between the outer face of the structure and the glazing itself, leaving only tracks for internal glass cleaning to disrupt the clarity of the sturdy exoskeleton.

Significant efforts have been made to minimise visual clutter. The number of materials and colours on show is reduced as far as possible, bringing the lively spines of the books into the foreground. The stretcher-bond coursing of the brickwork core is continued in parallel on the floor and ceiling, with the bricks laid as pavers.

Sliced bricks are applied across doors and architraves and printed onto lift doors and interiors. When the perpendicular courses collide at corners, they are meekly and fairly knitted together to make diagonal junctions. Similarly, courses of bricks following the direction of travel up the treads of the stairs continue until they collide one by one with the turn at the top. As a result, the whole appears to be excavated from a solid, but also the lines of navigation are subtly set out.

Trees grow in pots on the top terrace café within the library (the same species is planted outside), and project architect Fokke Moerel explained that these also help to moderate the internal environment. The only non-functioning element apparent at this point is the nested summit reading room, which, like Peckham Library, has pods which are not occupied. They were intended to play similar roles to the Peckham pods, offering intimate spaces to small groups of young people, but perhaps the experienced librarians are playing a subversive role here by furnishing them with uncomfortable tables.

The pleasure of visiting the library far exceeds the promise of its photographic reproductions. The acoustic qualities are remarkable, and on an overcast January afternoon it evidently provided comfort and respite for teenagers on Facebook, in another world from pensioners in the café above.

As library attendance in the Netherlands, as everywhere, is changing, and literacy rates are challenged, the optimism of this design − so removed from the faded glory of its fellow East Anglian town − is admirable. Equally impressive is the ability of a public client to recognise the potential role of architects in creating a modest local identity such as this. In a manmade landscape of dykes and poly tunnels it feels absolutely natural to make a mountain out of books.

Fact File

Architect: MVRDV
Photographs: Jeroen Musch

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Book Mountain: MVRDV's Library in Spijkenisee, Rotterdam

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Spijkenisse is a 13th-century town twinned with Thetford in Norfolk. It has a shorter Wikipedia entry than any of the partners of MVRDV. Although technically within the Rotterdam conurbation, creating the sense of a distinct town is still an ambition of its councillors.