Loan ranger: Caen's public library by OMA to complete in 2017
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.'
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the OMA website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Kim Jones’ Dior Men accessories channel the rebellious spirit of the Buffalo Collective
Agitator and establishment meet in Kim Jones’ S/S 2024 Dior Men accessories, inspired at once by the house’s history of haute couture and Ray Petri’s 1980s Buffalo Collective
By Jack Moss Published
-
Hotel Rakuragu is a tiny but mighty modern escape in Tokyo
Hotel Rakuragu, brought to life by Kooo Architects, lies within an 80 sq m plot in the area of Chuo-ku
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Jean Prouvé’s House of Better Days on show at Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris
The Maison Les Jours Meilleurs, or House of Better Days, by Jean Prouvé is explored in a new show at Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
Hauser & Wirth Paris by Laplace is a winning restoration in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024
Hauser & Wirth Paris by Laplace sees the architectural agency named Best Restoration Kings, breathing new life into an 1877 hôtel particulier near the Champs-Elysées
By Amy Serafin Published
-
A fire station cuts a bold figure in the city of Rennes
This fire station by LAN becomes a new landmark for Rennes, France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A refreshed Musée National de la Marine shows off its expanded exhibition spaces in France
Musée National de la Marine in France has been brought to the 21st century by a team comprising h2o Architectes, Snøhetta and exhibition designers Casson Mann
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Studio Mumbai exhibition at Fondation Cartier explores craft, architecture and ‘making space’
A Studio Mumbai exhibition at Paris’ Fondation Cartier explores the trailblazing Indian practice’s inspired, hands-on approach
By Amy Serafin Published
-
AT Architectes has built a striking house in the heart of a French pine forest
Maison Au Tholonet by AT Architectes is a crisp concrete house set on a wooded site in the South of France, carefully built on the foundations of a ruin
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Richard Rogers exhibition delves into the architect’s ideas at Chateau La Coste
A new Richard Rogers exhibition created by Ab Rogers opens at the late architect’s final design, the Drawing Gallery at Chateau La Coste in France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Inside artist Loris Gréaud’s Paris studio, a concrete bunker by Claude Parent
French artist Loris Gréaud invites us into his light-filled, bunker-like studio, the final project of late architect Claude Parent – watch the exclusive film
By Amy Serafin Published