The rehabilitation of the site will highlight the architecture, the spaces and the existing elements by contrasting them with the new interventions: the old and the new are put in dialogue by clearly affirming themselves respectively. The transparency, lightness and user-friendliness of the added constructions will contrast with the opaque, gravitational and monumental character of the existing architecture and will encourage interaction, exchanges and visual and physical permeability.
Opening the library to the city, bringing the city into the library
In response to the challenge posed by the imposing monumentality of the existing architecture and the turning inward of its main spaces, the project proposes targeted interventions that shape the space to bring the city into the library and, conversely, to push the limits of the library beyond its walls, into the city.
open and adaptable platforms: citizen platform / laboratory platform / public platform / event platform
In order to allow users to take maximum advantage of the quality of the spaces in the main building, which houses, among other things, the large reading room, four large open-space and variable-geometry platforms have been created and identified. These superimposed floors are connected by a new vertical circulation of communication that asserts itself as a contemporary intervention in the existing spaces, and makes them more dynamic. Breakthroughs from and within the floors provide visual permeability to all the key areas of the new library. Each of the floors exploits the distinct potential of the original architecture’s spaces, reinforcing their natural morphology, and establishes privileged programmatic links. Transformable infrastructures and furniture allow for the modulation of spaces and the regular review of uses and configurations.
Volumes with specific functions
Three volumes in direct relation to the different floors offer optimal configurations for programs with specific needs:
1. the monumental forebody
2. the matrix
3. the driver’s house
