The Dutch ambassador to France hosted a dinner in Paris on Thursday evening to celebrate the new Alexis de Tocqueville library in Caen, designed by the Rotterdam-based architecture firm OMA and opening to the public on 14 January.
While the agency’s founder, Rem Koolhaas, hobnobbed with guests, OMA partner Chris van Duijn presented the project. He said this is the second library the firm has built (after the Seattle Central Library) but one of seven it has designed, counting competitions and the Qatar National Library, to be completed next year.
Each of these projects has been vastly different, and all have been important for the agency’s evolution. Van Duijn explained, 'Libraries are public institutions that must be adapted to how a society deals with culture, knowledge and art.'
The architects hope that this completion will mark the beginning of a larger transformation within Caen
In Caen, the 12,000 sq m multimedia library sits at the tip of a peninsula that leads to the English Channel, straddled between the historical centre and a newer area currently under construction. Much of the city was devastated in 1944 but some treasures survived, including two Romanesque abbeys founded by William the Conquerer.
The city’s brief originally requested four different poles for its collections (human sciences, science and technology, literature, the arts), all connected by pathways. OMA opted instead for a singular, large glass building shaped like an asymmetrical cross. Two branches point towards the 11th-century abbeys, while the other two point in the direction of the train station and the neighbourhood under development.
Each of the branches has distinct amenities, such as a curiosity cabinet for artefacts, or film projection rooms. A large void space carved out of the middle of the cross provides a reading room and 360-degree views of the city, some distorted by bulges in the glass.
Van Duijn also addressed the ever-looming question of whether it makes sense to build libraries when the future of books is uncertain. 'We are still optimistic about the social relevance of libraries,' he said, adding that this one is sure to be a 'significant institution in the daily life of Caen.'
The library's cross shape reflects its key location between the city’s historic core and an area of Caen that is currently being developed
The 12,000 sq m multimedia space will contain four distinct libraries (spanning human sciences, science and technology, literature, and arts), a reading room and different workspaces
INFORMATION
-
A revamped Edinburgh apartment combines Californian-style modernism with modern craftArcher + Braun have transformed an apartment in a historic house with finely tuned contemporary additions and sympathetic attention to detail
-
Formafantasma’s biodiversity-boosting installation in a Perrier Jouët vineyard is cross-pollination at its bestFormafantasma and Perrier Jouët unveil the first project in their ‘Cohabitare’ initiative, ‘not only a work of art but also a contribution to the ecosystem’
-
Gingerbread City: architects sculpt London out of the season's favourite treatUntil December 29 in Chelsea, see London brought to life in a seasonal-appropriate medium by leading architects and designers
-
Turin’s Museo Egizio gets an OMA makeover for its bicentenaryThe Gallery of the Kings at Turin’s Museo Egizio has been inaugurated after being remodelled by OMA, in collaboration with Andrea Tabocchini Architecture
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and artLee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
-
A new era: Centre Pompidou architects discuss their bold 2030 plansPlans for the Centre Pompidou 2030 vision were recently announced, revealing a design refresh of the iconic Paris structure; we caught up with its lead architects Moreau Kusunoki to hear more
