Completed in 2010, Biblioteca Sant Josep is a single-storey public library in the village of Sant Josep de sa Talaia Ontinyent, south of Valencia.

Ramon Esteve Estudio slotted courtyards into recesses on three of the building's four elevations. One accommodates the entrance approach, while the other three are filled with plants and trees.

Every window faces towards a courtyard, rather than out the building's perimeter. "This library is a small closed universe in which light and green penetrates under controlled conditions," say the architects.

The outlines of the courtyards continue through the inside of the building, generating the curved shapes of four reading rooms with a communal lobby at the centre.

One of the curved spaces contains a children's library, while another houses the multimedia room. The third has an area for magazines and newspapers in its corner and the fourth includes the lending desks.

The board-formed concrete walls remain exposed both inside and outside the building. Books are slotted into plain white bookshelves, while circular lighting fixtures are dotted across the ceilings.

The spaces behind the courtyards are filled with offices and storage areas.

Other libraries featured on Dezeen include a converted house in Mexico and a university library with robotic book retrieval system in the US. See more libraries on Dezeen.

Photography is by Diego Opazo.

Here's some more information from Ramon Esteve Estudio:

Sant Josep Library

The library is a detached building within green surroundings splashed with trees that penetrate into the openings of the building. It is a prism box where the interior fragments with planes that flow between the spaces of the layout of the library. Between two fissures, the building opens to the exterior and allows the interior spaces to reach out to the vegetation that surrounds all of the building.

The building is composed of two different rooms, part of the functional design: the multi-purpose space, the children's one, the general background, and the space for magazines, newspapers, music and images.
The soul of the library is the books that accompany the walls that form the structure that organizes the different areas.

The surroundings give unity and include all of the space of the different areas, marking the limits but maintaining the continuity and fluency of the spaces.

The building opens to the exterior through polygonal courtyards that generate intersecting views between rooms and fleeting views of the environment. A large amount of skylights of different diameters filter a similar, neutral, clean light, generating a warm atmosphere that encourages reading and reflection.

Architect: Ramon Esteve
Collaborator Architects: Esther Broseta, Rubén Navarro, Olga Badía
Collaborators: Silvia M. Martínez, Tudi Soriano, Patricia Campos, Estefanía Pérez
Building Engineer: Emilio Pérez
Promoter: Ajuntament d'Ontinyent
Construction company: Díaz-Sala
Works manager: Manuel Pamies
Project: 2008
Completion date: 2010

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Ramon Esteve Estudio appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Herzog & de Meuron has been chosen to design the new National Library of Israel in Jerusalem after the initial competition winner was dismissed over a copyright dispute.

The Swiss firm won out against international architects Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano along with three Israeli architects – Kolker Kolker Epstein, Kimmel Eshkolot and Dina Amar and Avraham Korial.

Entrants to the relaunched competition were not asked to submit detailed plans for the building but instead underwent an interview with the competition jury. No images of the winning project are available yet.

Herzog & de Meuron's appointment comes just four months after Israeli architect Rafi Segal was ousted from the job when one of his former colleagues at the Harvard School of Design challenged his ownership of the winning design.

Bing Wang said she and her company, HyperBina, had worked on Segal's entry and should have been credited for their role when the announcement of the winner was made in September 2012.

Segal, who has has launched a legal challenge against the project backers' decision in the the hope of being reinstated, said he had intended to name the full design team as soon as he had permission to publicise his win. A Jerusalem court is due to consider Segal's claim on 8 May.

Construction recently started on two Herzog & de Meuron-designed projects in Europe – a football stadium in Bordeaux, France, and an outdoor bathing lake in Riehen, Switzerland. See all architecture by Herzog & de Meuron.

Other libraries we've reported on lately include Snøhetta's completed a library at North Carolina State University featuring a robotic book retrieval system and a 3D printing workshop, while a library dedicated to design has recently opened in Seoul, South Korea. See all libraries.

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for National Library of Israel appeared first on Dezeen.

The Elena Garro Cultural Centre is a two-storey library in Coyoacán, south of the city.

The rectangular concrete volume extends from the brick and plaster facade of the early twentieth-century house, doubling the floorspace inside the property and creating a new entrance.

The front elevation is fully glazed and integrates a system of vertical louvres, which rotate to allow ventilation through the building during its opening hours.

A double-height foyer sits behind the new facade, which Fernanda Canales and Saidee Springall of Arquitectura 911sc imagined as an indoor courtyard overlooked by the balconies and windows of the original building.

Trees continue to grow up through the centre of the room and one emerges through a large skylight.

"The project is the idea of highlighting the existing house and making an 'open' library space," explains Arquitectura 911sc. "Thus, a transparent block 'draws' books forward into the street and at the same time incorporates trees inside."

The first floor of the old building is replaced, creating a mezzanine of reading rooms and balconies.

A multi-purpose room and storerooms are also contained within the old building, while parking areas are located in the basement.

Doors at the back of the building lead out to a courtyard and cafe.

Another recent project by Fernanda Canales is a concrete house in Mexico City. See more architecture in Mexico.

See more libraries on Dezeen, including one controlled by robots and one lined with walnut.

Photography is by Sandra Pereznieto.

Here's a little more information from the architects:

Elena Garro Cultural Centre

The project, located in Coyoacán, is an adaptation of an existing house, a listed building from early-20th century, which was transformed into a cultural centre on Fernández Leal Street.

The need to preserve the existing property led to the decision that the project would highlight the new uses and, at the same time, respect the original shell.

Thus, the project consists of several elements that define the intervention: a first part which marks the entrance, a kind of frame, linking the building with the street and highlighting the existing house; secondly, a series of gardens and courtyards surrounding the project and inserted inside; and, finally, a rectangular volume at the back of the site, developed on three levels, consisting of a multi-purpose room, storerooms, and parking lots on ground floor. These pieces mark the different paths and manage to bind all the parts of the project.

The first element, which extends from the street by means of the pavement, frames the existing house, highlighting the central access porch and leading into the library, composed of double heights and perforations for natural light to enter.

The old house becomes the central space, dedicated to the library, which is visible from the street, as a large and public space.

By means of a ladder which resembles the original one, the visitor is taken to the top floor of the library.

All three volumes are connected together on the first level through the library, with a ladder to the bottom of the rear volume that connects the different levels and also gives access from the parking lot. This staircase also leads to a terrace on the roof plant.

By means of the aisle inside the library, the project is connected to the new volume to the back of the property. The connection of the two bodies is built around a sequence of full and empty, with a courtyard and an elevator handled as transparent box, as the centerpiece of the joint. This small courtyard, a small cafeteria, evidences the "bridge" connecting the two volumes.

The entire project is seen as a separate part of the existing house and can allow at all times a reversible intervention if necessary. Using materials such as volcanic stone on the exteriors, as well as tzalam wood and gray granite on the indoors, the whole complex is integrated.

Architectural project: Fernanda Canales + Saidee Springall + arquitectura911sc
Location: Coyoacán, Ciudad de México
Year: 2013

Artistic collaboration: Paloma Torres
Landscape: Entorno - Tonatiuh, Martínez y Hugo Sánchez
Surface: 1,500 m2

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Fernanda Canales and Arquitectura 911sc appeared first on Dezeen.

Named after a former North Carolina Governor, the James B. Hunt Jr. Library is a four-storey building at North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus.

The robotic bookBot system controls over two million of the library's books, labeling them with barcodes and storing them in a space far smaller than traditional library shelving. To retrieve a book, students and library users simply browse an online catalogue and select the volumes they want the system to pick out for them from the vast numbers of subterranean bins in which they're kept.

The 3D printing workshop is positioned within a digital production suite that also accommodates a digital games research lab and a visualisation studio. Other facilities include an auditorium and offices for the Institute for Emerging Issues, a political thinktank led by James Hunt.

Snøhetta designed the library as a mixture of traditional reading rooms and brightly-coloured group study spaces, which include a double-height atrium and a series of indoor balconies.

Aluminium panels clad the exterior and create a fixed system of louvres, providing solar shading for expansive areas of glazing that let natural light pass right through the building.

Snøhetta was first established in Oslo but has since opened a second studio in New York. The firm is best-known for designing the Opera House Oslo, but is also working on an extension to double the size of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). See more architecture by Snøhetta.

Other libraries completed recently include a music library at Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany and a public library inside a glass pyramid in the Netherlands. See more libraries on Dezeen.

Photography is by Mark Herboth.

Here's a statement from Snøhetta:

Official Opening of SNØHETTA's James B. Hunt Jr. Library

On April 3, 2013, North Carolina State University will officially dedicate the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, making it Snøhetta's most recently completed project in North America.

Snøhetta, the internationally acclaimed architecture and landscape design practice, worked closely with NCSU Libraries to set a new benchmark for technologically-sophisticated collaborative learning spaces with the design of the new Hunt Library. It serves both as NC State's second main library and the intellectual and social heart of the university's Centennial Campus plan. The Hunt Library also houses the Institute for Emerging Issues, a political think tank led by former North Carolina Governor James Hunt, academic offices and an auditorium. It is designed to be a decisive competitive edge for the university by democratizing access to the technologies driving our economy.

Design

Snøhetta's Hunt Library design balances the understood pre-existing needs with the University's emerging needs to create a forward-thinking learning environment. While clearly a contemporary structure within a traditional context of the NCSU campus, the Hunt Library provides a positive platform for influencing its surroundings. Both technical and programmatic innovations are celebrated as part of the learning experience and provide a versatile and stimulating environment for students.

Generous open spaces connect all floors of the library and open stairs emphasise an interactive and social environment alongside more focused study areas. A wide variety of study and learning environments, and technology-focused experimental labs break the now ubiquitous model of the learning commons. "Disruptive" learning spaces with colourful, dynamic furnishings exist beside more traditional study rooms. The design recognises the power of chance encounters and celebrates the role of physical space in the intellectual stimulation of its users.

The new LEED Silver (pending) project provides spaces awash with natural light, expansive views of the nearby lake and outdoor break and seating areas. The building's façade of fritted glass and a fixed external aluminum shading system help diminish heat gain while maximising views and ambient natural light. Robust materials form the interior spaces and unique, brightly-stained wooden stairs help library users orient themselves throughout the building. Ceiling-mounted active chilled beams and radiant panels provide heating and cooling for the interior spaces.

Snøhetta's integrated architecture and landscape architecture practice also designed the Hunt Library's surrounding landscape. The design creates a fluid transition between the masterplanned landscape to the Hunt Library's north with the natural environment of Lake Raleigh to the south, and links the library to the western edge of NCSU's Centennial Campus. Snohetta's plan breaks down the larger masterplan into individual diverse experiences, creates outdoor learning environments and teaching spaces for NCSU students, and incorporates rain gardens and green roofs into the building's infrastructure for storm water management.

Technology

The integration of state-of-the-art library technology is highly visible in the building's design. The Hunt Library's 5-storey robotic bookBot automated retrieval system is capable of holding two million volumes in 1/9 the space of conventional shelving. The system is supported by Virtual Browse, a user-friendly browsing software which enhances the traditional pleasure of browsing a collection by allowing users to see a virtual shelf of materials classified near the resources found by their initial search. The bookBot effectively reduced the total area of the building by 200,000 GSF, allowing more space for collaborative learning environments and technology.

In addition to the bookBot, innovative building features give faculty and students hands-on experience with the large-scale visualisation tools. The Game Lab supports NC State's Digital Games Research Center by providing an experimental commons to explore collaborative game design and the role of gaming in education. The library's Teaching and Visualisation Lab, the Creativity Studio, a 3D printing workshop and extensive digital media production facilities enable faculty and students with rapid prototyping, modeling, and visualisation capabilities. State-of-the-art videoconferencing and telepresence technologies allow collaboration with colleagues across the state and around the world. ROTC students are even able to practice commanding a submarine in a simulation environment developed in partnership with the Navy as a tool to better train cadets.

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Library Collection capacity (# of volumes): 2 million +
Total Square footages: Gross - 221,122, Net - 149,226

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by Snøhetta appeared first on Dezeen.

The Carlos Monsiváis Personal Library is one of five new spaces created inside the public library as part of the City of Books initiative, which asked five different architects to showcase the literary influences of a popular Mexican thinker. JSa's interior is the last to complete, following wings dedicated to poet Alí Chumacero, diplomat Antonio Castro Leal, academic José Luis Martínez and writer Jaime García Terrés.

The library occupies a long and narrow double-height space. Staircases are positioned on both sides and lead up to a first-floor mezzanine that runs around the outside of the room.

Bookshelves stretch up to the ceiling throughout the space. The size and proportions of the shelves vary, creating an arrangement of books intended to reflect the layout in the writer's original library.

"Carlos Monsiváis lived in chaos," JSa told Dezeen. "He had stacks of books everywhere; it was a disaster but he knew where everything was. All those stacks left tight spaces to walk through. We tried to reflect those spaces in the library to reflect the kind of way he lived."

Single-person study spaces are located on the upper level and comprise a series of walnut desks and chairs, while larger spaces for groups occupy two areas on the ground floor.

Artworks by Mexican Francisco Toledo - a personal friend of Monsiváis - are dotted around the library and include a patterned marble floor.

JSa is led by Mexican architect Javier Sanchez and has offices in Mexico City and in Peru. This year the firm also completed Tabasco 127, a concrete residential block that features sheltered balconies.

See more libraries on Dezeen, including one inside a former chapel, one that appears to float over a pool of water and one inside a glass pyramid.

Photography is by Jaime Navarro.

Here's some more information from JSa:

The Carlos Monsiváis Personal Library

Located in the west wing of the "Jose Vasconcelos" Library in Mexico, the personal library of Carlos Monsivais will be a space where the personal collection created by the writer's mind will be safeguarded for public use.

The architectural project has as a starting point a selection of specific characteristics of Carlos Monsivais and seeks to translate them into spatial qualities. Order within Chaos, is the first impression that inspired the architecture. The second guiding axis is the special relationship the writer had with the city. These two identifiers are interpreted and expressed in a space that generates a tour, guided using blocks that present various alternatives in three dimensions. The user must walk the site to understand it. The intention here is that despite the enclosure, the user may have different perceptions and experiences. The various blocks that generate the tours are formed by sets of bookshelves that vary in dimensions and textures and which generate different shades of color.

The library is done on two levels. What characterizes the first level is that it offers the possibility of several tours. It also has tight spaces because of the bookshelves that allude to the writer's original library. The second level instead follows a circuit that allows an extensive view of the whole space. The different tours converge into two different open areas where one can read the collections. These areas have double height and natural light.

Above: ground floor plan

The library holds several art pieces of Francisco Toledo, renowned painter and sculptor, including the design of the marble floor, who was a close friend of the writer.

Above: first floor plan

All together, the different elements that make up the library seek to help bring the visitor closer to the writer.

Above: long section one

Above: long section two

Above: cross section

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by JSa appeared first on Dezeen.