Estudio Arquitectura Campo Baeza and Laps Architecture have designed the Library of the French Lycée in Madrid, Spain.

The French Lycée in Madrid is a complex of buildings dedicated to education, built in the mid-1970s and a brilliant example of rationalist architecture in concrete.

It is also included in the Catalogue of Protected Buildings in Madrid, which means that any new intervention must be highly respectful of the existing structure.

"In this spirit, we proposed an exposed concrete building that blends in perfectly with its surroundings, using Holcim's Ecopact ecological concrete," said Estudio Arquitectura Campo Baeza.

"We wanted to create the most beautiful library in the world for the French Lycée in Madrid, but at the same time, we wanted it to be very logical, very rational and capable of making the most of the conditions of the site."

Glazed from top to bottom, the windows are doubled at both corners and in one corner, the roof is glazed, forming a trihedron of light – a "true boîte à lumière" – where there is more light inside than outside.