Open minds

Christian added company Luxigon
2 years ago

Christian added company A-lab
2 years ago

Christian added this project

The Public Library is a free public program. The new Deichmanske Main Library should maximize the interface with the public streets and surrounding context, by occupying the site from east to west.

The library can be a trans-port from the Opera to the new Munch- and Stenersen museum together with the new city area of Bjørvika, becoming a facilitator of the activity on the street level. Instead of one main entrance, the transparent library can have as many entrances as possible, creating “front sides” around the entire library building complex. The Library will in this way become more a part of the infrastructure than an icon. What does this mean for the rest of the program and development? Is it still possible to develop the remaining commercial program with specific iconic qualities without competing with the Opera?

One of the earliest examples of open public spaces is the Ancient Greek Agora. In ancient times, this was the architectural expression of the public life in the city. The agora was a public square where the exchange of information occurred alongside the exchange of goods. In the traditional sense, it is a place where citizens interact. They find an opportunity to hear one another and are provided a public space for social interaction. The use of the library services is free, a ticket is not required and everyone is welcome regardless of background, cultural or economic capital.

The library can be the contemporary indoor AGORA, an urban public square on the ground floor of the city.

The “Open Minds” proposal for the new Deichmanske main library is a platform for intensified social, political and cultural exchange. The ground floor is a field of interrelated events, a flexible surface acting as a physical extension of the public space of the city, becoming a public lounge for the library, the city and the additional functions on the “roof” of the library. In order to maximize the openness of the Library as an urban public space, a continuation of the street, “OPEN MIND’S” is an inverted traditional library hall.

The books of the new Deichmanske Main Library have swapped places with the introverted large open reading rooms surrounded by books of the traditional library. This circle of open space varies related to the surrounding context. The largest library space is facing south towards the Opera, allowing the Opera to become part of the “extended” space of the library.

2 years ago

Christian added company HAV Eiendom AS
2 years ago