Stuttgart City Library, Germany

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Govind Mahara

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May 23, 2014, 4:33:15 AM5/23/14

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Stuttgart City Library, Germany

The new Stuttgart City Library by Yi Architects was on October 21, 2011. After winning a competition for the project in 1999, the new library for Stuttgart in southern Germany has finally been unveiled. Yi Architects have shared with us the drawings and images of the project. The Stuttgart City Library was chosen in Mailänder Platz, an area that is perceived to be a future city center growing out of the location of the library. With this in mind, the architects chose to physically express the importance of this cultural center by giving the building a grand physical presence. The building takes the form of cube with an edge length of 45 meters. It is constructed out of pale grey fair-faced concrete that visually frames an array of 9 x 9 frosted glass bricks. The shell is designed as a double façade that includes the glass brick level and an inner mullion/transom façade as the thermal building shell.

Image credit PAPFOO

The form and symmetry of entrance of the building was inspired by the “Cenotaph for Newton” by Étienne Boullée, but the heart and core of the library follows the design of the ancient pantheon. Protected by a secondary façade, the cube-shaped room is situated in the middle of the building and is illuminated by a central roof light. In the center is a 1 m² fountain that ties the space as a meditative area. The gallery hall is a five-story space, square-shaped and surrounded by a shell of books. The interior circulation is arranged in a spiral among the reading gallery areas, designed to be flowing promenades flooded with light from the glass roof. The forum, a third central room, is located below the heart. This is an event room which is in proximity to the light-railway line that crosses the first and second basement floors.

Image credit Martin Kalus

This ambitious project has caused a mixed reaction. Construction of the building was carried out three years and a cost of 80 million Euros. On the outer walls of the name "library" is set in four languages. On the north wall in German, on the western English - international communication. South side welcomes visitors in Arabic - the language of ancient knowledge, as well as in honor of the sister city of Stuttgart Cairo. On the east wall architect Yi carved names in the Korean language, putting his signature.

Image credit Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart

Multimedia City Library in Stuttgart, as the jury's decision, found new ways to develop the skills needed to use digital technologies. So, one of the first in Germany it provided in its halls with Internet access. With praise jury also noted the library information service, its search engines and programs to promote books and reading in both analog mode and the web. In particular, there has been the so-called "Day of network security," in which the theme nights dedicated to the development of new media technologies, evaluation of computer games and other aspects of Internet use. The library equipped with special sound-proofed rooms for individual or group work, as well as the 400 seat and workplaces, where visitors can enjoy the library laptops. In addition, the library offers opening hours are Monday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, as well as a series of round the clock services. Every year there are more than four thousand different kinds of activities.