Library Buildings around the World

their diplomas from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès (ETSAV), Barcelona. Among their most important works
are: the Bell-Lloc Winery in Palamós, Spain; and the Tussols-Basil Atheltic Stadium and Les Cols Restaurant, both in Olot.
( http://www.baunetz.de)
When the AR last featured a library in Barcelona, it was an object building set within the medieval grain of Gracia. Situated on the
north-west edge of the city, beyond the tyranny of Eixample - Ildefons Cerda's distinctive grid - the Jaume Fuster Library (AR June
2006) demonstrated Catalan architect Josep Llinas' masterful handling of a rotund form negotiating its place in response to distinct
urban adjacencies and complex internal dynamics. By contrast, this library by RCR Arquitectes - a practice based in Olot, north of
Barcelona - is anything but an object building, clinging to the edges of its context and lining the interior of one of the city's distinctive
chamfered urban blocks in the south-westerly district of Sant Antoni. This building serves a new city-wide vision of Catalan
urbanism, commissioned by ProEixample, a company formed in 1996 to acquire land in block interiors for public use. So strong is its
motivation, the programme was not even the project's principal driving force. Instead, a break in the continuity of the street
generated the project, providing a rare opportunity to fill the gap and give a new use to the courtyard beyond. The original design
competition proposed a relatively generic administrative office. Once the spatial and social opportunities of RCR's winning
composition were understood, however, the client agreed that a public amenity would be far better suited. Thus the library now
occupies the gateway building, setting up complementary social dynamics with the senior citizens' centre, which was part of the
initial proposal, at the rear of the courtyard. Before remodelling began, this block was typical of many in the city: inaccessible to the
public and occupied by low-rise light industrial workshops, sheds and occasional chimneys. In her analysis, presented to the Mies
van der Rohe Award jury in a public lecture (the project was one of five shortlisted schemes, AR June 2009), practice co-founder
Carme Pigem named aspects of the city that had failed to come to fruition. 'The reality of Cerda's plan was different,' she conceded.
Describing how the engineer's aim was to have a number of open blocks, not impenetrable monoliths, she underlined the need to
reopen them for public use. When this project began, a single-storey unit plugged the gap in the street, perpetuating a false
understanding of the Cerda grid as being more about blocks than buildings. A quiet anxiety was evident in Pigem's description,
identifying the desire to create buildings that read more clearly than the blocks, which explains the bold shift in articulation of the
new library against its context. Glazed facades veiled in perforated steel sit conspicuously against render and stone, exaggerating in
material expression what the building concedes in form, as it's stealthy figure quietly finds its place in the city. In both plan and
section, the black form negotiates itself into a very settled .state, with a five-storey block sitting within the existing vertical gap and
double-height/single-storey wing forming a cranked armature that steps in and around the west and north boundaries.
While the wish to make a more identifiable building may have drawn some to use exuberant forms to create a dialogue between new
and old, RCR's trademark sensitivity to landscapes has been reapplied with skill and restraint here. The plans are logical and clearly
arranged, and the section breaks up to bring light into the covered passageway. In terms of material application, however, their
restraint fails to add any subtlety to the grain of the townscape. While the ambition to unify street and courtyard is clearly conveyed,
extending the application of minimal black surfaces to the library's interior was perhaps a move too far. Some may also agree that
the armature in the courtyard should have had its own, more distinctive cladding and lining. Moving from street to courtyard and
further still into the stacked reading rooms, the spatial shifts are insufficient in making this a truly urban experience. A return trip
to Jaume Fuster, with its diversity of interiors and interrelations, underlines this point with potency as the most successful spaces in
this new building are those that deal with specifics of context, placing lightwells along boundary walls in the senior citizens' building.
It would seem that the library structure was unable to shake off the corporate undertones of the previously planned office building.
The use of steel also has a problem, relating to the recent addition of a children's playground in the easternmost corner of the site, on
land acquired since these photographs were taken. While providing shade, enclosure and shelter for the cloister, the buckled steel
fins serve too well as solar collectors, absorbing the scorching heat of the Catalan sun, to the point where unsuspecting hands or
backs get a nasty shock when they brush the surface - another unfortunate consequence of having to retrofit a brief into a
predetermined architectural proposition. Despite this, the experience and amenity offered to local residents is an exemplary model
for future ProEixample initiatives. Sitting in the stepped reading room the library certainly provides welcome respite from the hustle
and bustle of this vibrant market district, and the building is extremely busy. Pignon describes Barcelona's new libraries as 'cultural
supermarkets', forming an essential part of day to day community life. Here then, despite the slightly topsy-turvy process of
retrofitting a function into a form, RCR has produced another fine library for Barcelona, making the city an exemplary destination
for any would-be library architects and clients from around the world. ( http://www.thefreelibrary.com )
Biblioteca Joan Oliver, Sant Antoni-Barcelona – Spain 2007
Literature :
De la imatge [Consulta: 4 de gener de 2008]
“Biblioteca, Casal d’avis i espai interior d’illa, a Barcelona: recuperació d’espai públics a l’Eixample”. En: Arqcat 1. Barcelona:
COAC, DL 2007, p. 46-47, ISBN 978-84-96482-06-9
“Biblioteca, Hogar de Jubilados y espacio interior de manzana”. En: El Croquis, n. 138 (2007), p. 192-211.
“RCR, Aranda, Pigem & Vilalta: Biblioteca y hogar de jubilados, Barcelona”. En: AV Monografías, n. 123-124 (2007), p. 132-139.
“RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes: Library, Senior Citizens’ Centre and City Block Core Zone in Sant Antoni’s District:
Barcelona, Spain 2002-2007″. En: A+U, n. 452 (May 2008), p. 62-69
“Biblioteca Sant Antoni – Joan Oliver” [Consulta: 4 de gener de 2008]
“Library and Senior Citizens’ Centre, Barcelona, Spain”. En: The Architectural Review, n. 1.349 (July 2009), p. 40-47
“Biblioteca y hogar de jubilados = Library and Center for the Elderly”. En: AV Monografías, 137 (2009), p. 102-107
Obra de l’equip d’arquitectes olotí RCR Arquitectes (2005-2007), la nova Biblioteca Sant Antoni-Joan Oliver es troba a l’interior
d’un pati d’illa al barri de Sant Antoni de Barcelona, compartint espai amb un casal d’avis i el jardí interior, entre els carrers
Manso, Ronda Sant Pau, Parlament i Comte Borrell. L’accés a l’interior, a través de la biblioteca, es fa per aquest últim carrer. És
un edifici té 1.723 m2, distribuits en 4 plantes més soterrani, que era antigament un fàbrica de caramels. La Biblioteca actúa com a
element de sinergia, relació i transició entre el carrer, el casal d’avis (situat al final de l’interior d’illa), i el jardi urbà, amb els jocs
per a nens. La Biblioteca destaca pels seus buits interiors, però l’element arquitèctonic més destacat és, sens dubte, una grada
interior ubicada a la segona planta, per a un lectura més informal i lúdica, en clara connexió amb l’exterior lúdic i juganer del parc
urbà. (http://www.bauenblog.info)
La biblioteca Sant Antoni - Joan Oliver, situada en el interior de la manzana delimitada por la calle de Manso, la ronda de Sant Pau
y las calles del Parlament y Borrell, constituye un equipamiento cultural y de proximidad para los vecinos del barrio y del Distrito
del Eixample. Entre la calle y el jardín, la biblioteca es un mirador urbano en el Eixample. Desde el punto de vista social y
arquitectónico, la biblioteca trabaja en sinergia con la residencia de ancianos y con los juegos para niños del patio de manzana.
La biblioteca se encuentra junto al Mercado de Sant Antoni y lleva el nombre del escritor sabadellense que vivió en el barrio, Joan
Oliver, conocido también por el nombre de Pere Quart. (http://w3bcn.es)
33