„Education, in depth“
The concept foresees the best possible reduction of noise from the main roads for the visitors of the library. The existing green island shall not be built on. For this purpose, the library area was “deepened”. A low garden was built in this section in order to maintain the sight axis Campus/Kleiststraße - Friedberger Landstraße. This is also the main access to the library and the café. A walkway takes visitors to a gallery that descends another level down to the entrance hall of the library. From the reading room there, steps lead down to the different floors. The different levels can be accessed either through a lift or through the main staircase where one has a view of the entire inner room. The support structure matches the structure of the book shelves and so the supports are not perceived as load-bearing structures, but rather as a filter between the bookshelves and the reading desks along the balustrades of the galleries. The existing trees shall
be maintained, this is why we planned nooks between the trees to further extend the inner room. The way to the café leads through the low garden in the basement of the administrative building. The walls of the low garden are made of plates of luminous concrete and they illuminate the room, especially by night. Access to the administrative building will be provided from the road. A gallery in the entrance area gives views of the café and low garden.