Library Buildings around the World

….Circulation and public spaces, both indoor and outdoor, are interlocked in a innovative sequence of ‘places’, a coherent
continuum of solids and voids directly inspired to the traditional urban carpet of the Courtyard Houses, characteristic of Beijing.
Within the proposed site, three new multifunctional buildings are located around a public square, center of a system of new sunken
gardens and outdoor pedestrian connections providing access to the buildings’ public functions located in the basement and ground
floor.
Inside the Library of Law Faculty, the program is structured in three major functional areas, vertically organized according to their
increasing requirement from privacy: classrooms and students’ facilities are located in the lower floors, the Library at the center,
while teachers’ laboratories and Research Institute occupy the three top floors, opened around the roof garden.
This inner system of voids and public spaces is expressed as a seamless and continuous sequence of openings carved in the stone
modular façade of the Law Library Building. Archdaily 10.05.2012
(http://www.archdaily.com/232493/tsinghua-law-library-building-proposal-kokaistudios/)
PKU University of Law, Beijing - China 2010
Architects: Kokaistudios, Location: Beijing, China, Team: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani, Li Wei, Fang Wei Yi, Liu Wen
Wen, Yu Feng, Local Architect: BIAD, Structure: BIAD, Mechanics & Electricity: BIAD, Project Area: 10,000 sqm
A challenging project for the most prestigious University in China in the heart of its historical campus.
In 2009 a prestigious American Foundation and Beijing University invited Kokaistudios to design the building for the new faculty of
law located in a prestigious location within the historical campus of China leading University. This particular site, where the pagoda
symbol of the university is standing, required considerable effort in terms of design in order to find architectural answers that could
satisfy and meld in a harmonious way the heritage elements; the beautiful natural environment and the new contemporary building.
This prestigious project, completed in October 2010, is considered the milestone of a new era for Beijing University, and a symbol for
better and more environmentally sustainable standard of living for the future University Community and for architectural buildings
within that community.
This project has been conceived on a rigid volumetric shape imposed by the strict regulation protecting the historical site and at the
same time by the necessity to fulfill all the functional requirements of the new faculty. The rigorous style requested to be accepted by
the large number of heritage commissions have been interpretated in creative way by Kokaistudios by proposing an elegant use of
few materials, concrete plasters and local stones with capabilities to transmit day light and a clever use of skylights, sinking gardens
in order to increase the use of natural light and thermal efficiency of the building. Kokaistudios transformed the facades to become
light filters and diffusing soft daylight light all over the interiors. The entire system of internal spaces has been designed by our team
so to upgrade the standards of working, living, and studying of the future professors and students, using sustainable materials and
creating aggregation facilities and spaces that could satisfy the flexible demands of the faculty in the future. Archdaily 10.12.12
(http://www.archdaily/94355/pku-university-of-law-kokaistudios/)
Lycs Architecture, Hangzhou – China
http://lycs-arc.com
Libraries:
Jiaxing University Library and Media Center, Jiaxing – China 2012 - 2014
Location: Jiaxing, China, Total Area: 42,000 Sqm
Project Dates: 2012-2014, Architect Of Record:Architectural Planning Design & Research Institute Of Zhejiang University Of
Technology
With the new winning competition entry for the Jiaxing University Library & Media Center, LYCS seeks to break antiquated design
conventions by intelligently negotiating contemporary architectural design into the traditional Chinese campus. Surrounded by rich
woods and luscious water, the 42000m2 library plays with hierarchy – the hierarchy of multiple, increasingly private spaces; the
hierarchy of the pace of spatial experience; and the hierarchy of introversion and extroversion. A division between the campus and
the courtyard, the library encourages public activities in the courtyard and on the roof garden while limiting excessive visual
interruption to the three lobes. Instead of using the traditional circulation of straight staircases, a gently sloping ramp wraps the core
creates a softer circulation experience that responds to the information-oriented architecture. Slicing the corners off of the
triangular plan softens the form and allows for better utilization of daylighting. The double layered facade lifts from the ground
plane by a nurbed surface, creating a theatre-like experience of form : as one progresses toward the center court, the facade curves
extrudes to a height of 35 meters, expanding into three roof gardens that converge toward the geometric center of the plan. A
floating crystalline form is achieved by the juxtaposition of the glossy reflection of the aluminum/glass facade and the gentle curves
of the lakeside. The first two levels of the building contain museum, archive, and network center, with a library above. The views at
the perimeter open to the landscape outside, while the ramping forms create varying vantage points within the building, weaving a
multiplicity of experiences between thegreen spaces, reading spaces, and common areas. (Lycs)
MADA s.p.a.m, Jingan District, Shanghai - China
http://www.madaspam.com
Libraries:
Jidang District Public Library, Shanghai – China Design 2008
Client: Jidang New City Development CO Ltd.
13.600 m²
Library for Zhejiang University, Hangzhou – China 2002
7,010 m2, Total construction cost: 73.7 millions RMB
Unusual geometry characterizes this unique academic library. This library is located on the Ningpo campus of Zhejiang University,
which was also master planned by the same architect. Because the campus was constructed in its entirety within a year, developing a
traditional, time-cultivated, identity was very difficult, if not impossible. The library’s ambition is to achieve a strong identity. To
fulfill this, the architects’ strategy was to create a clear character distinguishing it from the campus as a whole. This deviation is
expressed through both its logistic centrality and its architectural banality. It simultaneously occupies the hinge point between living
and teaching quarters of the campus, the nodal point of the monumental common green running east-west, and the major internal
circulation line running south-north. Its central location makes the library and open space around it the heart of the campus. The
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