The new library will be set up in midtown Manhattan, on 53rd Street, in the same location as the popular Donnell Library until 2008. A high-rise hotel is to be built on this site, part of which will be a new branch of the city public library, in addition to the many available in New York. It was on this condition that the city administration gave the investor a building permit. The first floor of the future hotel, as well as 2 underground ones, have been allocated for the creation of a cultural center. The total area of the branch will be 2,600 m2, and the construction will cost approximately $ 20 million.
The architects were tasked with creating not a traditional reading room, but a modern social and media center, which will become a new point of attraction for citizens and tourists in Midtown Manhattan. TEN Arquitectos decided that this type of institution should speak for itself, and abandoned the facade as a self-sufficient stone screen: the monumental wall was replaced with a glass surface. The transparent facade will not only make the new library an integral part of the city, but will also provide maximum daylight for its premises.
The key element of the interior of the future library will be a staircase that will connect all three floors of the complex and create many additional places for reading and informal communication.
A. M.
