A love of beautiful
things on mother earth, from nature to architecture, inspired me to have a look
at library buildings. And what a
revelation! Here is some of the results that I came upon searching on Google
for library buildings. The size and
volume of some of these libraries are just amazing.
José Vasconcelos Library, Mexico
Nicknamed the “megalibrary” by the Mexican press,
this giant library takes up a whopping 409,000 square feet, making it large
enough to dwarf the painted gray whale skeleton displayed inside the main
hallway. Outside of the library is an impressive botanical garden that protects
the building from the loud city streets, providing a moat for this castle of
knowledge. Inside, over 500,000 books are displayed on glass shelves hanging
from the five stories of the building. The end result is as striking as it is
stunning.
Designed by Alberto Kalach, the
"megalibrary" features transparent walls, hive-like bookshelves,
and mismatched floors. Visitors can take in a massive whale skeleton
covered in graphite rings by artist Gabriel Orozco. Outside, there's a
garden boasting lush flowers and greenery.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/65383/take-look-inside-mexico-citys-massive-gorgeous-library
Delft University of Technology Library, Netherlands
The
Delft University of Technology library is a building of glass and grass. With a
massive skylight in the ceiling that becomes a steel cone after escaping the
confines of the library, and an eco-friendly grass-covered roof, the library is
both stunning and totally modern. You can
literally walk across the library. There are a thousand study spaces for more
than three thousand students each day.
https://www.mimoa.eu/projects/Netherlands/Delft/Library%20Delft%20University%20of%20Technology/?utm_expid=3171585-1.kxbr9OawRfy04t4GsK0WyQ.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com
Images
courtesy of Robert
Lochner's and Thomas
Guignard's Flickr streams.
Stuttgart City Library
Characterised
by its cube shape and clinical white interior, this great crystalline building
stands a whopping 9-storeys high over the German city of Stuttgart.
This
cavernous white wonder is unobtrusive in design, where the books and visitors
provide the colour to an otherwise neutral environment
Mohammed bin
Rashid Library DUBAI
The Mohammed bin Rashid Library in Al Jaddaf will
hold more than 1.5 million volumes, 1 million audio books and 2 million
e-books, making it the world’s largest electronic collection and the biggest
library in the Arab world.
Designed
in the shape of an open book on a lectern, the seven-storey building will host
over 100 cultural and cognitive events every year, a permanent art gallery, and
a home for specialised institutions that support development of the Arabic
language content
With
its huge building, the library will serve as a venue for many cultural and
intellectual events as well as art exhibitions. The latest technologies will be
used to equip it to be one of the largest electronic libraries in the world.
The library will serve as a cultural and scientific movement in the country and
a catalyst for reading and scientific research.
Construction
work has commenced in September 2016 and be completed by mid-2018.
An
illustration of the Mohammed bin Rashid Library.
Admont Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located on the
Enns River in the town of Admont, Austria. It is the oldest remaining monastery
in Styria and contains the largest monastic library in the world. The abbey is
known for its Baroque architecture, art, and manuscripts.
The
library collection comprises some 200,000 volumes. The most valuable treasures
are the more than 1,400 manuscripts (the earliest from the 8th century) and the
530 incunabula (early printed books before 1500).
Tiny Libraries
And for
inspiration, if you feel you must build your own library, how about this?
Little
Free Libraries are decorative wooden boxes about the size of a large birdcage
mounted on poles, filled with books free for borrowing, open 24/7. The
idea germinated in WISCONSIN 4 years ago.
There’s
a website,
complete with plans for building a Little Library of your own – http://www.littlefreelibrary.org
This overview of a few library buildings, their design and
the immense volumes of information being stored in them, the concept of storing
information in printed books, the preservation and safe keeping of valuable
knowledge, made me realise how cold and
impersonal it is to use GOOGLE to find information. I can just imagine the
joy in exploring these libraries, to smell and touch the books and paper, the
experience to see old handwritten books by monks from centuries back!
And there are still libraries being build! I hope the
future library buildings will house books in written format for next
generations to come and not only be storage facilities for electronic forms of
information!
But hey, I am an old soul and love the traditional book
that I grew up with. May the next generation of libraries, librarians and users
of libraries still know the joy and pleasure of holding a paper printed book in
their hands, smell the paper, cuddle up with a book in a sunny spot and enjoy
the pleasure of exploring the inside of well-kept libraries.
