Nuovo polo bibliotecario

A concrete designed library forming a stable system consisting of three major entities.

A new library centre assembling the ‘Battisti’ public library, the German provincial ‘Tessmann’ library, as well as the Italian provincial ‘Augusta’ library in an integrated cultural space, a centre forming part of the public library system and at the same time the main universal German scientific library of South Tyrol, a unique point of reference and intercultural centre for the various linguistic groups of this region. The project rethinks the librarian programme to create a mixed library centre, half-way between a reference library and a public library, rethinking the German ‘three-level’ model. The building has been designed as a complex but simple cultural stronghold, consisting of three major entities: the square (an ample space for events, refreshments, open-air exhibitions, new and second-hand book market), sloping slowly towards the new city; the full-height gallery with an adjoining longitudinal body, whose monumental head points towards the city; three ‘urban shelves’, three bodies parallel to the main ‘nave’, alternated with minor galleries hosting open-shelf reading spaces, connected by way of overhead bridges, opening to a large entrance hall.