Library Buildings around the World

well as storage facilities, with adjoining, for the most part two-storey reading rooms facing the city and/or the campus. The book
tower is embedded in an ensemble comprising a pedestal, housing the repository, and two additional buildings that will be put to
various uses. In terms of urban planning the “book tower” is located on a city axis, such that the heavily frequented exterior with
its overarching connecting function can remain open space. The new, urban library plaza also upgrades the location. The cube´s
sculptural interior shape, which is created by the stacked sealed volumes, is embraced by a transparent printed sheath. By day this
appears calm and even. In the twilight and at night the lighted from inside makes individual facilities and work areas recognizable
and the “book core” of the library is highlighted. The roof area is open to the public, attracting additional people from the
surrounding plaza into the building. In addition to the library hall for prestigious occasions and the training room, the “reading
garden” with a view over the city is outside public space of extraordinary quality. (KSP)
Site: 18.770 m², Floor Area: 50.009 m², Cubage: 216.321 m³
ELSI Legal Studies Institute, Universität Osnabrück – Germany 2008
The European Legal Studies Institute at the University of Osnabrück has moved into a former furniture store, which was converted,
renovate, and extended. The building was turned into two separate structures for the Institute and the library, which are connected
via a glass foyer. In line with what it now houses, the building has been given a new urban identity, with its fabric transformed into a
place for communication. Above and beyond the requisite renovations and conversion work the aim behind the design concept wass
to give the building a new identity and an interior quality befitting in the international importance of the Institute. As well as
meeting the functional demands the building was intended to boast spatial quality as a place for communcation. To the end the
uniform ceiling layers had to be opened up to create new views and inspiring interiors. The existing building fabric was altered only
to the extend that design and function dictated and that was finacially acceptable. The building mass was divided into two structures
for the institute and the library. The connecting building on Kommenderiestrasse was removed. The edifices are on the same scale as
the urban fabric, blend in with it, and break up the long, unstructured line of buildings. (KSP)
Floor Area: 5.101 m², Cubage: 20.492 m³
Zentralbibliothek mit Musikbibliothek der Stadtbücherei Frankfurt – Germany 2007
The property is located downtown on Hasengasse, close to the Frankfurt street known as Zeil. The building was erected in 1965, as
part of reconstruction work in the old town, to house the HQ of Frankfurter Sparkasse and remained in business as a fully
operational branch until 2005. In the seven story main building along Hasengasse, the large teller´s hall, part of which extends over
two floors, occupies almost the entire groundfloor. Along with the main building, a four-story east wing demarcates the forecourt up
to the main entrance. The main building´s single-depth stories were designed around an inner atrium. The building´s facades clearly
reveal its reinforced concrete skeleton construction. For the building´s new function, the roof over the atrium is to be raised a story
and parts of the ceiling to the basement opened up, thus creating spacious areas for the library, spread over four floors. A “reading
tower” with a sculptural design is being erected on the side of the hall opposite te entrance. A staircase located here links all the
library´s public floors. Recesses for working and reading are being created. A café is being installed on the ground floor of the
eastwing, looking out on the forecourt. The entire ground-floor façade facing the forecourt is being renewed and provided with
generous glazing. A large colorful porch just out in front, accentuating the entrance to the library. (KSP)
Floor Area: 12.000 m², Cubage: 44.500 m³
Bibliothek der Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig – Germany 2002
Through the glass cube of the new library, the college for Visual Arts in Braunschweig got a new emblem. The basic idea was the
re-usage of the Mexican pavillon (Architect: Legoretta) at the EXPO in Hannover. Although changes to the interior due to the
different functional requirements had to be made, the basic character of the cube should as much as possible be preserved. This
was possible due to the newly realized concept. During the integration of the cube into the existing structure of the HBK a
redesigning of the neighboring buildings and the forecourt took place. The glass construchtion with an approximate edge length
of 18 meters consists of an undirected quadratic steel grid. In the center of the glass cube a bookshelf of 11 x 11 meters with a
square outline ( 12 meters height ) was placed. The tower stands as a free, recognizable and colorfully designed building structure
within the transparent shell. The book collection of the library is stored here on four levels. The tower is twisted, with respect to
the outer shell, forming narrowing gaps between the two building constructions. The technological concept for the building had to be
adjusted to meet the demands of the enormous amount of solar radiation. Working intensely together with construction physicists
and building engineers, a solution was developed to cool or heat the inner room, depending on the outside temperature, with stored
energy from construction-component activation of the book-tower. (KSP)
Floor Area: 2.200 m²
Erweiterung Universitätsbibliothek TU Braunschweig – Germany 1996
A new entrance sitation to the central university area will be created with an extension construction of the university library on the
exposed city planned site, at the corner of Pockelmannstrasse/Konstantin-Uhde-Strasse. The cubical appearance of the new
construction picks up the formal language of the old structure. The building height and facade design are oriented to the old
building, the facades of which are made of fair-faced concrete. The design of the new building is dependant on the grid of the old
building facade. The two main buildings are connected by a transparent construction with a glassed courtyard as clarification of the
seam. The facades of the new building will be determined by glass bands on the ground and first floor. On the third floor the facade
is set back as far as the terrace is deep. The east-facing facade is designed as a hole-facade corresponding to the building directly
opposite In addition to the walls of the ground and first floor, plastered in light colors, a facade covering of whitish gray stone
manufactured from natural materials dominates the appearance of the new building. In the corse of extension a new order of the
rooms and functions is being made. The book collections, which were stored in other parts of the TU, are now accessible for
everybody in the stack located in the first, second and third underground levels. Next to these are reading halls, work places for staff
and rooms for the head of the library. (KSP)
see also:
National Library of China, Beijing – China 2008
Alongside Purple Bamboo Park in Beijing's Haidian District stands the main National Library of China (NLC), its
architecture perfectly blending a splendid facade with a graceful solemnity. As the third largest national library in the
world, covering 250,000 square meters, it embraces three components: the first phase of construction (1987), the second
phase (2008), and the NLC Library of Ancient Books, west of Beihai Park. Phase I, completed in 1987, covers 7.42
hectares, with a built area of 140,000 sq.m, ranking first among "Beijing's Top 10 Buildings of the 1980s." Phase II covers
a built area of 80,538 square meters. The National Library of China serves as the repository of the nation's publications, a
national bibliographic center, as well a national center for the preservation and conservation for ancient books. The
major mission of the NLC includes: the collection and preservation of domestic and foreign publications; national
coordination of document preservation and conservation work; provision of information and reference services to the
central government, other governmental organizations, social organizations, and the general public; research in library
sciences, and development of library services and programs, and guidance to other libraries in China with its expertise;
the fulfillment of its role in international cultural exchanges through participation in the activities of the International
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