Carlos Santamaría Centre by JAAM. Photographer Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre has sent us these photographs of a curved concrete library in San Sebastian with a narrow courtyard driven through its centre. Completed in 2008 by Ander Marquet Ryan of Spanish architects JAMM, the Carlos Santamaría Centre is located on the campus of the University of the Basque Country. Timber-panelled walls surround the secluded courtyard, which separates the two-storey building into two asymmetrical halves.
The library’s book collection is housed on two storeys of the larger half, while the smaller part contains separate study rooms and a lecture theatre. The round concrete exterior walls converge into a point at the front entrance to give the building a teardrop-shaped plan. Students walk through this pointed entrance into a double-height colonnade, where L-shaped timber columns surround a glass wall and roof.
Here's some information from the architect: Click above for larger image Architect: Ander Marquet Ryan, JAAM sociedad de arquitectura s.l.p. Liyuan Library by Li Xiaodong. Architect Li Xiaodong has completed a library in China that's covered in firewood. Located on the outskirts of Beijing, the single-storey Liyuan Library houses its collection of books within a chunky timber frame. Stepped platforms integrate low level shelves and provide seating areas for readers. The sticks cover a glazed shell that encases the library.
We've also featured a library in Japan with an exterior of timber bookshelves covered by glass and another in Germany with a golden facade - see more stories about libraries here. Photography is by Li Xiaodong Here's some more text from Li Xiaodong: Liyuan Library This project is modest addition to the small village of Huairou on the outskirts of Beijing, just under a two hours drive from busy Beijing urban life. On the one hand it forms a modern programmatic complement to the village by adding a small library and reading space within a setting of quiet contemplation. Musashino Art University Museum & Library / Sou Fujimoto. Architects: Sou Fujimoto Location: Tokyo, Japan Client: Musashino Art University Project Year: 2010 Project Area: 2,883.18 sqm Photographs: Daici Ano One of the most interesting projects I’ve seen in a while, the Musashino Art University Museum & Library proposes a new relation between the user and the books, surrounded and sheltered by them.
We had the chance to ask Sou Fujimoto about the challenge of designing this program in the information age, as you can see on the above video. More info after the break: This project is a new library for a highly distinguished art universities in Japan. It involves designing a new library building and refurbishing the existing building into an art gallery, which will ultimately create a new integration of the Library and the Art Gallery. The project described hereinafter is the plan of the new library which sits within the first phase of the total development. Library Of The Present: Communal Information In Physical Space. The Internet is now the library of the past. Where the public library has historically served as the primary source of information gathering and dissemination, we now look to this new virtual, infinitely large library that can be accessed anywhere at any time as the Library of the present.
As a result, the primary roles of today’s physical libraries have shifted. Libraries of the past focused primarily on individualized information consumption. Communal aspects of interaction and information dissemination now represent the core mission of the library when information is more easily accessible. The silent grand beaux-arts reading rooms of New York or Boston have of the past been transformed into flexible communal “living rooms” in Seattle.
Community Driving Design This new purpose is deeply considered in library design today. In Sou Fujimoto’s Musashino Art University Museum & Library, community space exists interstitial to the bookshelves of the library. Kirkwood Public Library / ikon.5 architects - Kirkwood Public Library / ikon.5 architects (159331) - ArchDaily.