Library Buildings around the World

Beyond reinvigorating Musashino Art University’s aging campus, Sou Fujimoto’s library champions books — an especially noble
achievement at a time when the printed word is facing an uncertain future. “Anyone can read at McDonald’s,” says the architect.
“But enjoying, concentrating, and relaxing in a library surrounded by books is a special experience.” Yet the building is curiously
longing for books. Both inside and out there is an abundance of empty shelf space. Initially Fujimoto envisioned walls of books filled
up high to the ceiling. But in the end only the first seven rows are actually in use, since shelves above six feet require extra measures
for earthquake protection and stepladders for access. “After completion, I found that emptiness is better,” reasons the architect. “If
you fill up all the shelves, it is just a bookcase. But if you leave it part empty, it is full of potential.” Lined with towering bookshelf
walls — whose empty shelves represent the library’s potential as a place to use and house books for years to come — an integrated
cascading stair and series of stepped shelves serve as a connection between the two main levels and provide plenty of room for
students to sit or recline as they read, sketch, or catch up on text messages and e-mail. By Naomi R. Pollock, AIA
(http://archrecord.construction.com)
Arata Isozaki & Associates, Tokyo – Japan
http://www.isozaki.co.jp
Libraries:
Nuova Biblioteca Maranello, Maranello, Prov. Modena, Reg. Emilia-Romagna – Italy 2011
Client: Maranello Heritage s.r.l., Program: New town library and exhibition center, Dates: Competition: April 2007,
Expectation of appointment: June 2008, Opening: May 2011, Dimensions: Lot area: 850 sqm. Gross built area: 1175 sqm.
Gross area of the project: 1175 sqm. Height above ground: 5.3 m, Construction, Facilities: reinforced concrete and steel,
Facades: curved glass room Lifts: geothermal energy saving.
The competition site is located at Via Vittorio Veneto in Maranello (Modena), within an established residential fabric. The
building is bordered to the north courtyard of a residential building to the west with a public green area to the south by a
residential building constructed in adherence to the east and other residential buildings and partly in adherence. The project
we propose has an area of 1175 square meters. This restructuring of the existing building through the maintenance of the
perimeter walls of the sides of the north, east and south neighbors with some residential buildings, the demolition of the
central parts of the building and construction of the library as a volume contained within the height limits of the old building
and developed partly above ground and partly underground. Is located on the west side access to the new library. The
project was developed by defining three main areas, corresponding to an area of consultation, a large reading room and the
multipurpose rooms, the latter used independently. Within these three main areas are planned: the areas of consultation and
storage of the library, the newspaper, the sound library and video library, the recreation center, multipurpose room, study
hall, the historical city, the room exhibitions and temporary installations. Within these spaces have been provided for
providing the service stations to consult catalogs and Internet access, the bank loan for the users, the administrative offices
for library staff and the storehouse the library. It 'was a planned subdivision of Reading under the category of potential
users and particular attention was given to the spaces for children aged between 0 and 6 years for those between 6 and 10
years and those between 11 and 14. Students in high school and university but have spaces for consultation and study which
do not interfere with others. The building consists of three main volumes designed to best meet the functions contained
therein. On the ground floor there is a transparent volume that houses the cafeteria, with an adjoining room service and a
large bar, exhibition space for the association "Maranello land of myth and all areas of consultation and the library reading.
The volume is mirrored on the surface of water that surrounds it and the water reflected the deep green ivy that enriches
boundary walls maintained by the project. A shelter projecting to the public space and architecture makes it recognizable
from the road within the absolute white resin floor and furniture glows green exterior reflected through continuous glass
wall that runs along the curved shape. The light that pervades the open space of the library performs in a play of reflections
bouncing off the white elements of the furniture, floors and structures, water and the continuous glass transparent. One
volume mat is placed on the south side, also pure white, to hold the service areas, stairs down to the basement and playroom,
equipped with a window to allow natural light. The basement consists of a box which is accessed via a staircase and an
elevator for disabled people, as a freight elevator for the books. Now we are in a space formed by the multi-purpose hall and
exhibition space, which can be set as desired. In this area are also located underground space for storing the librarian of the
library heritage and the historical city that has special consultative small spaces. (http://www.europaconcorsi.com)
Quatar National Library, Doha – Quatar 2002 –
The building, which in the drawings seems to vibrate in the air as if about to take off, will be made up of three elements. The
ground floor will house the Contemporary Art Museum, along with a Museum of Science and Natural History with a large
common entrance area. The two museums will be housed in a podium structure 9 metres high, from which three imposing
columns 120 metres tall and 18 metres in diameter will rise. These columns constitute the true operative and functional heart
of the project, as they will not only be the site of visitors' vertical movements but form the central core around which the
rooms of the National Library will be built. All five levels will bend around the three columns between 60 and 93 metres
above the ground. These "wings" will make the building look as if suspended in the air, giving the complex a particularly
imposing, evocative appearance. The lowest of them will house the children's library, offices and technical rooms. The
biggest of the levels will measure 7,000 square metres and house the bookshelves and reading rooms. Visitors will be guided
through two entrances: one on the western side, where the parking lots are located, and another on the portico to be built on
the seaward side, with a view of the Corniche. The complex will also include a coffee-shop and a large restaurant at the top
of the three columns offering a fantastic view out over Doha Bay. The lot on which the complex is to be built measures over
50,000 square metres, and the building's total surface area will be 22,000 square metres. The arrangement of the three
columns at the corners of an imaginary triangle accentuates the dynamism of this imposing structure, which is also
underlined by the step structure of the 7 levels, which gradually grow wider as they rise upward. The "wings" overlooking
the Corniche are longer than those at the back, so that the building looks as if it is about to "take off".
Laura Della Badia Interview with Arata Isozaki (http://www.floornature.com)
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