“The library is a symbol of the lateral thinking of the 21st century. Its form is based on an almost primitive action : two lines crossing generating a centrality which group four polarities. It is an agora of ideas, a place that might reinforce the role of books in an increasingly digitised world.”
Caen Alexis de Tocqueville Library
It is a legible and recognisable project, thought as an urban forum. A single facade surrounds the perimeter of the building, revealing an horizontal fault completely transparent and free of any structure The reading area of the library becomes a “belvedere” on the city. The game sought between the full facade and the void of the library expresses very clearly the organisation of the building.
The intersection of two axes creates a confluence space for both readers and disciplines. The four “Science and technology”, “Literature”, “Humanities” and “Arts” poles will be housed at the four ends of the building. Each of them will move towards a cardinal point of the city, identifiable with its historical monument : to the north, the Abbaye-aux-Dames; to the east, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes; to the south, the railway station and to the west, an urban area in the making.
These four squares surrounding the parcel open either on a park, a basin, a strategic axis or a logistical interface. They interrupt the existing alignment along the basin by creating a new public square to meet the future bridge. It is in this ambulatory break, along the wharf, that the ground floor will open: a crossing hall that will connect the park with the pedestrian space along the basin.
Movie Credit ArtefactoryLab
Video : To live in Caen today as well as tomorrow
credits
Architects: Competition, design development, OMA (Rem Koolhaas and Clément Blanchet) / Exe, OMA (Rem Koolhaas and Chris von Dijn) and Clément Blanchet Architecture
Clients: Communauté d’agglomération Caen La Mer
Nature of the operation: Competition MOP law
Realised in: 2010 - 2017
Site: Caen, France
Program: Library, exhibition space and educational facilities.12,700m2
Budget: 32 Millions Euros
TEAM COMPOSITION
Architect: Barcode
Engineering: EGIS
Sustainability: Elioth
Scenography: dUCKS Scéno
Acoustics: DHV
Renders: ArtefactoryLab
Facades: Rob van Santen