Rem Koolhaas and his OMA bureau collaborated with local LMN Akitects to design the city's new Central Library, designed to attract readers in the digital age. All four facades of the building, decorated with a mesh of metal and glass, differ from each other. There are no right angles and parallel lines in it, and the sharp slope of the site prevents the observer from assessing the real scale of the building. Inside the premises, they are located on several platforms protruding one above the other. Apart from bright light green escalators, they are connected by a "book spiral" - a swirling concrete ramp, designed on the principle of multi-storey garages, on which the institution's book storage is located. Librarians will meet visitors not on the ground floor, but on the middle platform. This, first of all, will save the time of workers when moving around the building: they will be in the very center of it. The upper platform houses a conference room and other meeting facilities. The corridors connecting them are painted in bright red, while the interiors themselves are in neutral tones. The main feature of the building is that when designing, Koolhaas initially put the needs of customers at the forefront. Unexpectedly, as a result of this pragmatic approach, a real work of art of architecture was born.
2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 00:52
