New library in Stuttgart © DieterJL
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Please tell me that place has a lift- I haven’t seen that many stairs since I was at university!
Here are some more pictures of it:
http://www.home-designing.com/2011/11/the-new-stuttgart-city-library
I think the stairs are great! If you are only going up or down one floor or two, it’s just easier, and they’re right there. In a lot of buildings, libraries or not, the stairs are next to the elevator, and/or hidden behind doors, and hidden out of the way so you have to go far to get to the one or two stairwells, behind the heavy fire-safe doors. These are visually interesting and conveniently located. I’m sure there are elevators, it’s just not the star of the architecture, like the glass ones at the shopping mall.
In Stuttgart they strive to make their public buildings as wheelchair-inaccessible as possible.
:(
*is wheelchair-bound*
I have to admit I did not visit the new library yet (I do not live in Stuttgart anymore), but the website very clearly states that the new library was designed to be accessible:
Barrierefreiheit: Die gesamte Bibliothek ist barrierefrei gestaltet. Für Menschen mit eingeschränkter Sehfähigkeit stehen im 6.OG ein spezieller PC sowie ein Lesegerät bereit. Die Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter aller Ebenen helfen jederzeit gerne weiter.
Accessibility: The whole library has been designed to be accessible. Visitors with limited vision can find a special PC equipped with a reading device on the 6th floor. On all floors, members of staff will be willing to help you.
In addition, the floor plans mention lifts. I’m the first to admit Stuttgart building and city planning is not always brilliant, but let’s give credit where credit is due.
http://www1.stuttgart.de/stadtbibliothek/bvs/actions/profile/view.php?id=23#Beduerfnisse
Northern Europe has a culture of libraries…
Berlin, Malmö, Amsterdam… When entering there I DID think it was some sort of temple.
But yeah, that’s the only atheist temple I could accept: open to everybody, no preaching, free, and containing as much as possible of everything, books about religion included.
And the mantra of the acolytes is “Shhhhhh”
This is my local library/temple:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/walesarts/cardiff-library-commission-air.jpg
http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/11873_3_BDP_Cardiff%20Library_4.jpg
http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/cardiff-library596.jpg
http://www.neilcanning.com/images/cardiff-library01.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2471/3580168436_64641fa2d9_b.jpg
It’s got a real MC Escher vibe going on inside, I love it :-)
Re MC Escher, many years ago the eye clinic of a hospital in the Hague had lots of Escher prints on the walls, which I always thought was a bit unfair.
Just…Wow….
*drool*
So many books …
WoW! That is what my little 2 stories of books should look like!
But then I would run into the ‘So many books! So little time’ problem.
But then I think 2 kindles could hold most of it.
Alain de Botton would hate this!
/@
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh, PA, which has been around for the better part of a century now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Learning
It’s ok, but the architecture seems to be the star and not so much the books, the information. I like the statement of the Stuttgart one better, it makes it look like a candy store of books. I’m not particularly reverent about the objects known as books, and find the cathedral sort of off-putting in regards to them. I’m more reverent about the information and accessibility of that information. That said, the Boston Public Library in Copley Square is divided up into 2 sections and I prefer the McKim to the Johnson. McKim has all that goody stuff like wood paneled rooms with green shaded desk lights (where people wait for turns on the internet stations) and alcoves with no books and fresco paintings and statuettes, I don’t care too much for it, but I do like the marble staircase and the brass banister that fits the shape of my hand, it’s very comforting and human when I enter. Crossing over the division to the Johnson side, it’s cheap carpeting, frayed, standard metal shelving (a lot of it empty), and most of it looks in a way nobody cares for it until you get to the main lobby staircase. I like that area, but I dislike the impersonal and unhelpful staff.
My favorite thing about my library system is that I can go online and have any book I want delivered to my local branch, where the people know my name. Their building isn’t that impressive, but I actually changed branches because my nearest branch was being renovated and now it is horribly designed that I can’t stand to stay and browse; the slightly farther one is still in an old building, and not so many books that they are all in one room with spillover to the computer room which also contains videos and music, or the children’s room in the back. From my home, I can get any book in the system and greeted by people who know me.
Pretty. My local library is tiny. They have an extensive network of of libraries on the interlibrary loan system though, so I don’t lack for books. I have to know what I want first, or check out Amazon reviews for browsing. I’ve gotten so lazy about it that I don’t even check if my branch has the book first. I just order online and let them pull it for me. The closest academic library is an hour’s drive away at my old undergrad college. That one is pretty.
Now that’s a temple I could worship at!
how about this:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Bookstore_in_former_church.jpg
This Atheist Temple puts the brain dead spiritualism of de Botton to shame.