Library Buildings around the World

flowers. Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal, architects with Sylvain Menaud, Emmanuelle Delage, Mathieu Laporte, Pierre Yves
Portier, collaborating architects. (Lacaton)
LAN (Local Architecture Network), Paris – France
LAN has received several awards: the Nouveaux Albums de la Jeune Architecture (NAJA) prize awarded by the French Ministry of
Culture and
Communication (2004); the International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Urban Centre for
Architecture, Art, Design
and Urban Studies, the Archi-Bau Award, the Special Prize at the 12th World Triennale of Architecture, Sofia (2009); the AR
Mipim Future Projects Award and the
Europe 40 Under 40 Award (2010).
http://www.lan-paris.com
Libraries:
EDF Archive Centre, Bure-Saudron – France 2011
CLIENT: EDF, LOCATION: Bure-Saudron / France, BUDGET: € 10,1M excl. VAT, SITE AREA: 3.30 hectares, BUILT UP
AREA: 6800 m², COMPETITION: 2008, COMPLETION: 2011, TEAM: LAN Architecture (lead architect), Franck Boutté
(HEQ consultant), Batiserf Ingénierie (structure), Michel Forgue (surveyor), Base (landscape architects), LBE (utilities)
PROJECT MANAGER: Christophe Leblond
Within the framework of the Meuse and Haute Marne economic support programme, EDF has decided to centralise all its
intermediary Engineering Production Management archives in Bure.
Until now, these paper copy archives had been stored in nuclear, hydraulic and thermal production units, as well as in engineering
units and associated services. As well as being spread over several sites, they were also handled in different ways. It had therefore
become necessary to group them to rationalise and optimise the archiving functions: sorting, indexing, management and access.
Over and above the functional aspect needed to manage the archives, this was also a strategic project providing a positive social and
environmental impact on the region….
The objective is to obtain an energy-efficient building through the use of an intelligent morphology, a high performance skin, choice
of adapted systems and the production of renewable energy. Wastewater management will reduce the ecological footprint and
contribute to a symbiosis between the building and its environment.
The principles underlying the architects approach were to compress and minimise impacts. Consequently, the architects directed
their research towards a five level, 19 m high building with an archives area covering approximately 1,400 m² and a total surface of
approximately 7,000 m². This approach results in:
1) considerable saving in terms of the building’s envelope,
2) improved functionality translated by a reduced number of kilometres covered per year,
3) a marginal impact on the landscape (with view points at a considerable distance from the building),
4) the possibility of a maximum use of the excavated land around the building’s footprint to control water recuperation and
treatment on the site,
5) an energetically and environmentally extremely high performance building,
6) the creation of a symbol representative of the approach taken by the Meuse and Haute Marne economic support programme.
An archives storage building needs to have a considerable inertia and is thus “heavy”. The need for fast and simple site management
and optimum storage efficiency led us to develop a simple and rational layout complying with the logic of a project that is both
bunker-like and, in itself, an industrial process. The question was how to integrate lightness into a massive object? How to avoid
interrupting the continuity of the natural landscape?
Firstly, by paying particular attention to the building’s envelope.
To give the impression of a lightweight building in movement, the architects proposed incorporating stainless steel studs into the
earth-coloured concrete cladding. This solution had the effect of blurring the building’s limits and reflecting the surrounding colours
and changing seasons.
(http://www.morfae.com/008-edf-lan)
Toy Library, Bonneuil-sur-Marne – France 2005 – 2008
Client: Bonneuil-sur-Marne Local Authority, 380 m²
The Bonneuil-sur-Marne children’s toy library is a public building as well as a play space for children. The project creates an
opposition between monumentality and the need for a warm, friendly environment within the same building.
It is located in an area where 1960s social housing has had a strong physical and social impact. The exterior and interior spaces are
designed to respect the dual nature of the building. The monolithic shell-like elevations are closely linked to the surrounding urban
context. LAN Architecture wanted to create a strong urban symbol able to stand out from its environment, whose shell would
protect its core and participate in the regeneration of Bonneuil-sur-Marne’s social structures….
The design of the Bonneuil-sur-Marne children’s toy library resulted from an approach that aimed to simultaneously resolve a
number of problems and develop new ideas:
- New use for an existing building
- Design of a children’s play area
- Creation of a small-scale public facility in a socially unstable area occupied by large housing complexes
- The difficulties of a very restricted budget (initially, the programme simply called for a new interior layout)
LAN Architecture decided to design a building that had no sense of scale and which would appear timeless, a dense solid mass, an
urban symbol standing out from its environment, a shell able to protect its contents…..
LAN Architecture’s strategy was inspired by a medical logic of intervention. The creation of an additional freestanding skin allowed
them to control the interfaces between exterior spaces, building and interior spaces, as well as meet the need to provide generous
volumes.
The new elevations covering the existing building are adapted to the building’s changed use and provide for the incorporation of a
new main entrance, an open courtyard on ground floor level and additional surface areas for administrative functions. This solution
maintained the existing in-situ cast green-tinted concrete shell.
The decision was taken to create a hermetic separation between the exterior and the open and colourful interior spaces. Children
play in a sort of cocoon, rich in light variations, that rises up over the two levels; a simple, functional and comfortable scale and
volume fully adapted to the needs of its users.
(http://www.morfae.com/0013-childrens-toy-library-lan)
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