Eccentric Neighbours (2006)
Stockholm, SE - Competion
with Marco Ferrari, Matteo Ghidoni, Fabio Gigone, Giulia Marabini, Michele Marchetti
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Capturing the sun, the design scheme is based on two leaning cylindrical towers embedded in the hill slope and connected in the ground floor to the Asplund Library, the Annexes, and to the parking lot in Gyldéngatan by means of a wide two storey basement. Upstairs, two bridges connect
the towers to the Observatory Hill Park.
Three Dimensions Library Campus
The effect of the design is a three dimensional library campus in which the first tower on Spelbomskan Square, where’s the main entrance, is dedicated to humanistic subjects while the second to scientific ones.
Spelbomskan Square is conceived as a space for public events, video projections, shows attracting and inviting the users of the building. Originated from a section with the same diameter size as the Asplund Library’s tambour, the two towers are divided into 8 elliptic floors characterized in their upper parts by courts which become the hearts of the buildings: an inner square in the first tower and a sloping garden in the second. Some spread double height spaces connect the different
floors to widen the sights inside the library.
The towers inner spaces virtually continue onto the city thanks to panoramic views to make the building a sort of never-ending library. Due to the linearity of the plot, the building is a series of open spaces, flexible and convertible, in which the lifts and fire escapes have been arranged allowing a large connection for the public and the library employees.
All spaces are widely convertible to different uses, but they can also be organized according to the dynamic community activities areas as well as very quiet study and reading spaces characterized by special views on the hill park. The upper bridges work as a park’s extension, turning themselves from a soft material into a strong surface by degrees, two paths moving gently from the hill slope to the inner side of the two buildings.