#El centro library hunter skin

I meet library director Brian Gambles and his staff, he tells us enthusiastically that “the Library of Birmingham will become a centre of learning, information and culture that will help to foster Birmingham’s knowledge economy. It is not only Europe’s youngest city with 25% of the population under 25 years old but it’s also a student city with 50,000 students, second in student population only to London. It has many identities, both culturally and architecturally. The client wants to select the best team to help them realize their ambitions for an innovative and world-class library that will become the largest library in Europe with ten thousand people expected to visit every day.īirmingham is a multicultural British city of a little over one million people from very different backgrounds. In this project, the written and the spoken word will be united. Mecanoo is one of seven international architecture firms shortlisted to design the new Library of Birmingham integrated with the Repertory Theatre (REP). In June 2008 I visit Birmingham for the first time of my life. Programme: 35,000 m2 library with adult and children’s library, study centre, music library, community health centre, multimedia, archives, Shakespeare Memorial Room, offices, exhibition halls, cafes and lounge space, roof terraces, new shared auditorium (300 seats with neighbouring Repertory Theatre, interior design and urban plan for Centenary Square. The addition of soft landscaped roof spaces will further enhance the immediate surrounding conditions.

The façade will respond to external conditions and openings will allow fresh air intake and outflow. The building will incorporate a mixed mode and natural ventilation strategy. The circular patio cut out of the square creates a protected outdoor space and invites daylight deep into the building. The ground floor benefits from the mass of the soil which provides buffering and insulation. Sun shading and reflective materials within the facades block the harsh rays of the sun during the height of afternoon while allowing natural daylight into the interiors.

Although the Library is a transparent building, it maintains energy efficiency through the buffering capacity of the building mass and the atria. The Library of Birmingham is a BREEAM excellent rated building and incorporates grey water systems and ground source heat pumps. New workshops, staff accommodations and a shared theatre and foyer space will be created for both the REP and the library. The REP with its unique and beautiful auditorium will be renovated. Its prominent position as a rooftop aerie makes this delicate room visible from the square. This Victorian reading room is lined with wood from the first Birmingham Central Library. The rooftop rotunda houses the Shakespeare Memorial Room, designed in 1882. These rotundas play an important role not only in the routing through the library but also provide natural light and ventilation. Travelators and escalators dynamically placed in the heart of the library forms connections between the eight circular spaces within the building.

#El centro library hunter skin

Its delicate filigree skin is inspired by the artisan tradition of this once industrial city. The Library of Birmingham is a transparent glass building. The cantilever of the library is not only a large canopy that provides shelter at the common entrance of the Library of Birmingham and the REP, but additionally forms a grand city balcony with views of the events and happenings on the square. The busiest pedestrian route in the city, what Mecanoo calls the red line, leads pedestrians into Centenary Square. These palazzos form an urban narrative of important periods in the history of the city The Repertory Theatre (REP), a 1960s concrete building, the Library of Birmingham, designed in 2009 and Baskerville House, a listed sandstone building designed in 1936. Mecanoo’s design transforms the square into one with three distinct realms: monumental, cultural and entertainment. Centenary Square, the largest public square in the heart of Birmingham, currently lacks cohesion or a clear identity or atmosphere.