Project 1B — Très Grande Bibliothèque
Rem Koolhaas — OMA
Ariel Benhamu | Jonathan Melendez
The program called for the creation of various smaller libraries contained in one building envelope; including libraries for moving images, recent acquisitions, reference, catalogues and scientific research. The immense amount of information to be stored within these spaces (books, films, digital databases) became the impetus for the overall concept design. The library is imagined as a solid block of information, a dense repository for the past, from which voids are carved to create public spaces — absence floating in memory.
Along with conference centers, restaurants, offices, etc., it would consolidate five separate and autonomous institutions in which the complete production of words and images since 1945 — the Bibliothèque is as much cinema as library — would be contained: a cinemateque, a library of catalogues, and a scientific research library.
At the moment when the electronics revolution seems about to melt all that is solid — to eliminate all necessity for concentration and physical embodiment — it seems absurd to imagine the ultimate library.
The project is located in the East of Paris, bordering the Siene. Making a major statement to rehabilitate that part of the city.
Transition from horizontal to vertical spaces as user moves upwards. One void in particular combines horizontal and vertical spaces to create an experience as one progresses through the space. “The Loop” forms a continuous motion that transforms the floor to wall to ceiling and then viceversa.
Circulation through the voids is sequential if one uses the escalators. One must go through each of them in order to reach “The Loop” on the top of the library. All voids, except the spiral, are for browsing.
The project implements three principal material choices which curate the internal exposure of the building. Glass is used for the fenestration of the voids, allowing full visibility to the space. Translucent material is used for most of the facade. Giving a sense of the interior spaces purely by the contrast of light (the form of the spiral can be appreciated in the exterior). Steel is used for the trusses surrounding the building. It is completely opaque and allows views of the inside only through the openings of the trusses.
Structural System
The main elements in the structure are the elevator shafts providing support for the floor slabs. The 9 elevator shafts allow each floor to have completely distinct spaces that do not have to be constructed. This spaces are carved as voids from the floor slabs between multiple floors. This allows for the creation of complex shapes and geometries that are difficult, if not impossible, to build as mass.
Nine elevators create the only fixed grid of the library design. By having a fixed position, voids can be carved around them more freely. Different elevators have access to different voids. This diagram shows which void can be accessed by certain elevators. The Loop can be accessed by six of them at different locations.
Through the voids, the city of Paris becomes a catalogue in itself. It is framed by the apertures and exhibited to the public. This diagram indicates the voids that implement this idea and shows what can be actually seen if one were to be inside the space. Two different perspectives of Paris are framed. One is directed at the northern part of the city, and the other focuses more on the Siene towards the East.
