The current library building is a typical example of 1960s architecture, unfortunately devoid of any memorable features. Its layout is also distinguished by its condosity - a library of the 21st century, which has long since turned from a reading room into a universal media center, has simply grown out of it. Therefore, the authors of the reconstruction project were faced with two tasks at once: to design a building with a comfortable flexible internal structure and bright architecture, capable of captivating the younger generation with the idea of reading.
The architects keep the perimeter of the old building, but they are quite free to deal with it. So, two corners of a concrete box lift up about half a floor above the ground, and the facade between them predictably "slips" inward. Thanks to this, the building, which used to be a simple parallelepiped, acquires a complex polygonal plan. And the resulting openings are glazed by the architects, so that the reading rooms will be clearly visible from the street and, in fact, will become part of the urban space.
The open character of the updated library is also emphasized by the layout developed by WORKac. The halls intended for children, adolescents and adults are no longer isolated from each other by blank walls, but, on the contrary, flow into each other, and book shelves will play the role of partitions. The architects themselves compare them with apartment buildings - arranged in a certain order, they form themed "quarters" with their own streets, squares and squares.
However, there will be real squares here - the roof of the renovated library, which has received a complex broken shape due to the deformation of the perimeter, the architects intend to plant. From a distance, the library building will thus be perceived as part of the landscape.
A. M.
