We retained the Annexes
After reading the competition brief and having studied all the design opportunities for this site, the crucial decision we faced was whether to retain or not to retain the existing Annexes. We decided to retain them.
The decision to keep the Annexes is based on intellectual and economical reasons, and, above all, as a matter of self-discipline, as if keeping them was a way to work intimately for the city of Stockholm and its New Library.
We believe that the Annexes belong to the Asplund Library. Not only because they are part of the original design, but also because they symbolize an economic and intellectual endeavour: an important heritage of the city. By retaining this heritage, we accept the challenge of designing the new building, in addition to the existing ones, despite its inherent limitation, as opposed to the tabula rasa approach.
Once adopting this approach, we focused our vision on build relationships between the actors1, in the site: the Asplund Library, the Observatory Hill, the discussed Annexes, the Pond, the Visitors and, of course, this entire area of the City.
All these relationships have been managed with a sense of respect for the Asplund Library. Namely, letting it play the role of the lead building, as a landmark in this part of Stockholm and its modern history.
Our addition of the new Library is a building 130 metres long, a siedlung, consisting of stereometric mass as a new container of books and reading areas, a system integrating Rotunda and the Annexes with the Observatory Hill.
The new building is posed as if it was a backdrop in a play: a curtain1 behind the actors, a visual link between the Rotunda and the three Annexes. Furthermore, running parallel to the Odengatan, it is akin to a knife that cuts the hill, invoking its space in the competition site, and functioning as a contra forte of the hill.
This linear building is organized around a module of 4.2 metres, both in plan and section. The depth is four modules (17.30 metres) and the height is 7 levels.
Levels and Entrance-System
Since the levels of Asplund Rotunda and the Annexes are not indicative as a spot height of the new building, the choice and the organization of the different levels have been the one of the most important consideration in respects to the spatial, logistic and distributive structure of the New Library. We assumed that level 13.70 (the terrace around Asplund Rotunda) is the urban connection point between the Asplund Library and the site, and level 15.15 is the ground floor of the Addition. The ground floor, named Level 2, is where we organized the New Entrance for the library. This spot height is the same for the entrance to Rotunda level 2 (15.06).
From Sveavägen, we have retained the Main Historic Entrance to the Asplund Library as a gala entrance that can be used, in the entrance-system, as a direct access to the Arts and Aesthetic Media Collections, which we have decided to house in the Rotunda. On the left, we can see the iron framed façade of the Addition with the elevators-system visible through the glass surface.
The new vertical connection system is accessible at 13.70 from all the Asplund library entrances. Here, a new stairway1 facing the Pond and parallel to the Addition, is a way to reach the restaurant, the cafeteria, the news zone and the childrens fiction area, that we placed at level 7 (31.95) 1 as an alternative entrance to the New Library, allowing the use of that floor even if the library is closed. This stoned stairway also functions as a fire escape route, for every floor in the Addition.
This decision to place the more leisurely functions of the library such as café and restaurant beside the south exposed terrace, is based on the wish to reinforce a closer connection between the New Library and the Observatory Hill.
The cafè/restaurant is the only volumetric exception to the stereometric mass. It is not visible from the pedestrian Odengatan. Hence, our original goal of making the Addition appear as a backdrop is not visually disturbed. Once more, besides the library function, the new library boasts a hot spot for the City of Stockholm.
While retaining the non public Asplund entrance, at the Odengatan, we created a new public access: New Odengatan Access.
In total, the Library can be approached from four different directions: the Sveavägen, the Hill, the Pond Staircase and Odengatan. From each approach, it is possible to enter the New Library through the Main Historic Entrance, the south side entrance of the Swedish Institute of Childrens Books and the New Entrances of our addition. This entrance system is completed with a non public ones dedicated to staff, administrators, suppliers and logistic, such as the direct entrance to the Annexes, the side entrance in Odengatan and the garage connections.
The Addition Iron Grid
The iron grid is organized as a tectonic construction which hides a module of 4.2×4.2 metres. Non vertically aligned pillars (at multiple intervals of 30 cm) pass through the iron slabs of each floor, determining the reticule grid. This reticule can be read as a random pattern of the backdrop to the actors. The side facing the hill, is statically supported by the concrete stairway system.
Behind the iron grid, different layer solutions have been adopted depending on the exposition of the sun or the functions served by the each façade of the linear building: glass, on the north Odengatan – side (where the most of the reading areas are situated), bricks and insular layers on the south side supporting the hill. The east and the north façade are completed with a bespoke glass panel, so as to reveal the inner life of the New Library to the city.
In the New Main Entrance, at ground floor, the pillars are naked so as to encourage visitors to weave through the pillars, as if they were weaving through the pages of a book. On the opposite, the west side, close to the garage, we organized the loading platform.
THE FUNCTIONS
Having decided to house the Arts and Aesthetic Collection in the Rotunda Temple, and to install the news, café and restaurant at the upper floor – we strongly recommend this option – the decision to house other media collections can be postponed until further phases.
Drawing N
In short, we decided to organize the different functions as the following scheme:
