As a symbolicreflxion of prevailing power structures, the innen spatial organization of thelibrary has always been shaped by two opposed forces, two purposes, thearchival purpose of preserving knowledge, and the public one of accessingknowledge, the coexistence between these two functions shaped the librarythroughout history. During the ecclesiastical world of the middle ages, thearchival function dominated, as the books were viewed as a source of sacredknowledge, to which access was limited to a limited number of priviledgedindivials, spatially this exculsivity was celebrated with reading clusters,ressembling in their form and order to temples and prayer rooms, Michelangelo’concept of ‚secret library illustrates this conception of the library.
During theRenaissance the attainment of knowledge became more public and less exclusive,the machanical production of books made them more available tot he civic use,this change from an ecclesiatical to a humanist form affected the library andits role in the society, which affected the design of the spatial organization,as the reading room became a humanist discourse and exchange space. In the 18thcentury, with the ‚project of modernity’, the faith was on advancement ofhumanity and universal progress, this faith in humanity was spatiallytranslated in the form of libraries that are cultural centers, with readingrooms that play the role of civic culture spaces, the best example ist helibrary of Boullée and its famous reading project room oft he Bibliothèque duRoi. Thelibrary of the future is a concept and a programm to transform existinglibraries and help design ones to help survive printed books, by giving books anew more vivid meaning, Architect Rem Koolhaas along with other architects dutcharchitects Rients Dijkstra and Jason Hilgefort tried to compare the differencesbetween the traditional library and the library oft he future, and propose newspatial organizational concepts for the library of the future.Thetraditional library is static, flat which does not allow flexibility (seefigure 5 below), the society of today is a dynamic, creative, and as thelibrary is a reflexion of the society, the building of the library oft hefuture should allow the users to write, learn, create and discover, in anenvironment that allows freedom and exchangeThe main shift in the organisation of thelibrary is stimulated by the progress of technology, information and media, bookshave to share more and more space with other media (see figure 6 below), inorder fort he library to keep up with the explosive multiplication ofinformation media and social consequences of this multiplication.
withthe nature of the library shifting from a quiet static one to a dynimacculturally multiple, the distribution of activities and cultural offers musstbe reevaluted and rethought. The traditional library separated and isolatedspaces and functions, while the library of the futures combies and mixes severaloffers, functions in order to keep the user interested throught the buildingand the visit (see figure 7 below). Figure 7: Distribution ofoffers in the library source: (Van der Werf, 2010:74) Thelibrary of the future is a learning center with several activities (Figure 8see below) The new multifunctional, mixed space concpt is also throughfurniture and new arrangements implemented, a furniture and arrangement ofmedia that allows interaction and diversity and dynamic, contrary too thetraditional library that had a preset arrangement, an isolating organization ofoffers and media. (Figure 9 see below) Figure 8: The culturallearning facilities source: (Van der Werf, 2010:75) Figure 9: The furniturearrangement source: (Van der Werf, 2010:73) 1. Study cases Thereare several examples of built libraries designed according to innovativeprinciples to in use and integrate the latest advances and advantages oftechnology.
This chapter aims to study three examples of three innovativelibraries. 1.1 Stuttgartcity library Figure 10: Stuttgart citylibrary source: (Vgl. Website Archdaily) 1.1.1 General after nearly three years of construction, the new StuttgartCity Library was in 2011 inaugurated.
The building is designed by Koreanarchitect Eun Young Yi, Eun’s proposal was selected in 1999 from 235 entries asthe plan for the The building of the 80-million Euro Stadtbibliothek am Mailänder (the new city library located in Mailänder square in thefuture European Quarter) (vgl. Website Visi) 1.1.2 Architecture ‚fora new society, a new architecture should be defined as a reflection on theavancement of civilisation.
The condition for this should not, however, be toget rid of old values. ‘(Yi, 2011:25). thelocation chosen for the new city library, is a slightly sloping plot in themiddle of the neighborhood set by the developpment masterplan as the european Quarter,in the Mäilander square, the design and the size and position of the newlibrary is supposed to be representative of the new emerging quarter.
Thisimage is achieved through the exterior architecture, the building is a palegrey concrete structure, with frostered glass bricks, the ensemble is plannedin a geometrical, symetrical cubic form, with an edge Length of almost 45m (seefigure 11 below). (Yi, 2011:25). Figure 11: Stuttgart citylibrary Source : (Vgl. Website Archdaily) Thebuilding envelope is a double facade featuring a light gray glass-block,exposed-concrete frame and an inner mullion and transom facade with sunprotection. The space between the two facades is a walkway for strolling and isilluminated in blue at night. (see figure 12 below). (Vgl. Website Siemens)Figure 12: Stuttgart citylibrary Source : (Vgl.
Website Archdaily) 1.1.3 Functionsand spatial organisation Nowadays, people are constantlyencouraged to communicate one with another, where public space and buildingplay a major role.
But communication is not only a social necessaty, it is alsoa private one, als we need to get in touch with our inner values, and this canbe accomplished in a large, monumental room, in a small isolated room, but alsoin an abstract room like the ‘heart’ of the new library of Stuttgart. The Heart of the library is on everyfloor ringed by the public areas. It extends across the four floors and linksthe reading spaces one to another. The gallery hall (Galeriesaal) is acontemporary interpretation of an old-age type of reading room such as the onedesigned by Etienne Boullee for the French national library, a compact, square,five high storey room with a shell of books, to highlight the books and thereading experience. (see figure 13 below) Figure 13: Section of the Stuttgart city library source: (Vgl. Website Archdaily) The vertical circulation has beenspirally organized, as interior stairs in the reading gallery levels as aflowing promenade, a metaphor, in which the heart is a heaven like thecathedral and a sacred place in the city, and the reading room and its stairsare the alleys and squares.
Natural light comes in through the glass roof,which is closed off with a grid-work drop ceiling to achieve a simple and pureatmosphere. Figure 14: Conceptual diagrams of the Stuttgart city library source: Adam Kor 48-105 studio b The main goal of the architect wasto design room that are easy to read, therefore great importance was given tohomogeneous and plain surfaces, the square grid dictates the main shapes andsets a general order to generate redeable spaces, however, the geometry is nota purpose by itself, but simply an architectural and organizational principle toreach certain elegance and clear-cut building structure. 1.2 SeatllePublic Library Figure 15: Seatlle publiclibrary source: (Vgl.
Website Archdaily) 1.2.1 General In1998, the voters of seattle voted to approve the project of a 290 MillionDollar to rebuild and renew the seattle public library, the new librarydesigned by the dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has 33700 square meters programmareaon eleven floors.Thebuilding is a steel and glass construction, has city views, large publicspaces, an all meeting room floor, and a 30 miles of books arranged as aspiral, and considered as the world largest book spiral. (See figure 16 below) Figure 16: Diagram of thebook spiral in the seattle library source: (Vgl. Website Vmetoyer) 1.2.2 ArchitectureRemkoolhaas used the concept of ‘urban consolidation’ by interpretation different infrastructuralelements of the city, such as streets, squares and buildings and integratingthem in the spatial componenets of the library, to suggest a continuation ofthe public realm.
At the same time, the architect expressend the divisionbetween the interior and the exterior of the library through its shiny,monumental exterior (Van der Werf, 2010). Theeleven floors and the underground are connected by escalators, threes passengers’elevators and one freight elevator, the atrium rises from the forth level fromthe fourth level to the eleventh floor. 1.2.3 Functionsand spatial organisationInthe seatlle public library, Rem Koolhaas expanded the the classic programm ofthe library that consists in storing and transferring of information, to aconcept of ‘urban event space’, as a staged sequence of experiences acrossdifferent departements offering the reader various activities and endlesspossibilities, the visitors can wonder around in the library and discover thesedifferent possibilities.Thebuilding is devided in five stable platforms, each one of these platforms is aprogrammatic cluster, that it is architecturally defined and equipped, thesize, the flexibility, the ciruculation, and the structure varies according toits purpose (figure 17 below): parking is in the bottom, store in the groundfloor, ‘assembly’ in the third, followed by two floors of books andaadministartion. Figure 17: The five stableplatforms source: Thefour ‘instable’ platforms in between the stable ones play the role of trading,where the interface and interaction between dfferent spaces is organised spacesfor work, interaction, reading and play.
Figure 18: The four’instable’ platforms source: 1.3 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm centerFigure 19: Jacob and WilhelmGrimm center source: (Vgl. Website Archdaily) Thenew bilduing of the Humboldt University in Berlin gathers the twelve branch anddepartement libraries of the liberal arts and cultural studies as well associal studies and eonomics, which makes it the largest contigeous open libraryin Germany. (Roth, 2011:105-106). Thebuilding was in 2009 inaugurated, and has been designed by the swiss architectMax Dudler for the university of Humboldt in Berlin, is considered to be thelargest open access library in Germany. (Campbell, 2013). 1.
3.1 Architecture Thefacades convey the interior functions of the building through the varyingopenings in the stone body to the outside. The openings are structured on thebasis of a grid of 1.50 m, the fassade was realized in a yellowish Jurammarble, which through a high-pressure water jet process, has a natural stonestructure. (see figure 20 Below) Figure 20: The fassade of theJacob and Wilhelm Grimm center source: (Vgl. Website Divisare) Inside,the clarity and quietness are achieved by reducing the color canon to a warmdark tones: white-gray, black-gray, reddish wood, dark red and dark greenfurniture surfaces. The freehand areas are designed with smooth black linoleumfloors, black and gray sheet steel bookshelves, and whitewashed walls andceilings.
(see figure 21 below) Figure 21: The interior ofthe library Source: (Vgl. Website Divisare) Thespecial areas such as reading rooms, and the main entrance hall were fittedwith wall cladding and American Cherry veneer ceiling cladding. Frequently busyareas such as the main entrance hall and the outside staircase accompanying thereading room were given a natural stone floor in the jural marble of thefaçade. Reading tables and table lamps are designed by the architects. For theupper luminaire cover, translucent composite quartzite stone glass plates wereused in reference to table lighting in historical reading rooms. (Dudler, 2010: 70-77).
1.3.2 Functionsand spatial organisationThediscussion on whether to create a single central reading room or several decentralizedsmall rooms was concluded with the decision for both: from the large,stepped-up room or hall, all 2.5 million media units can be reached,distributed to the reading places, and computer workstations.
The central readingroom also enables access to decentralized space. The reading room is in theraised part of the building protected from direct south light, arranged in therear building part. (Dudler et al., 2010: 70-77). Due to its monumentaldimensions, its terraced, to achieve an exterior-like perception, which isfurther supported by the large-area glazing of the “sky”. The freelook into the sky almost suggests reading in open air, reminiscent of the readingrooms in the traditional libraries. The building is approximately 50 m deep, fromalmost any point of view, users have a view out of or through the building.
Theinternal organization of the building was developed according to symmetryorganized around the central axis. (see Figure 22 below) (Roth,2011:105-106). Figure 22: The reading roomand the ceiling Source: (Vgl. WebsiteBusinessinsider) Thereading room receives a counterpart through the symmetry. For the purpose andoccasion of its construction, architectural space has been used to design aspace for the books and its readers, to give an identity reminiscent of the oldlibraries. In addition to the introverted, central reading room, the libraryalso offers flexibly expandable, individual reading islands on the façade. Theactual highlight of the room presentation is the research library located at aheight of about 24 meters, which preserves the valuable holdings of theBrothers Grimm collection.
(see figure 23 below) Figure 23: Section of thecenter source: (Vgl. Website Gooood)
