The library is located in the geographic center of Caen, on the "peninsula" between the Orne River and the channel connecting the city with the English Channel. There is now active construction, instead of the industrial zone, a court building, a research center and other buildings have already appeared. However, the library will become the community center of the new district, which opens the development zone of Caen to the east. Its X-shaped plan points with its western and northern ends to the famous monuments of European Romanesque - the churches of Saint-Etienne and Saint-Trinity, the southern - to the station, and the eastern - to the aforementioned new development zone. At the same time, these four ends contain the thematic zones of the second, main floor of the library: human sciences, exact, technical and natural sciences, literature and arts "meet" in the center - the main reading room. It is important to note that paper and digital books are placed side-by-side on freely accessible shelving; in total, it can hold 120,000 documents.
On the ground floor there is a spacious lobby, a newsstand, an entrance to the auditorium for 150 people, and a restaurant with a waterside terrace. The glass facades of the library connect its interior with the river and the canal, the walking trail and the park around it, and from the upper tier you can even admire the views of the city. It is there, on the third floor, that the children's department, administration offices and utility rooms are located. The book depository with the archive and the historical collection occupies an underground level, which is protected from damp by an innovative insulating membrane on the inner surface of the concrete walls.
