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Stadt Schorndorf The New Schorndorf City Library
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The New Schorndorf City LibrarySchorndorf, 2017

A Place of Encounters and Discoveries. Reconstruction and Expansion of the Schorndorf City Library.

Exper­tises
Libraries

The New Schorndorf City Library

Situated merely 26 kilometres east of Stuttgart, Schorndorf - with a population of roughly 40.000 people - represents a wealthy city within the metropolitan area of the state capital. As part of a new inner-city development approach, the integration of the new city library into the existing old town centre is supposed to serve as a model for the future management of historical buildings. Originally a dairy estate and now serving as the Technical Town Hall, the historical timbered house was selected to host the new city library along with a contemporary annex. Due to the original building’s protected 18th century structure, reconstruction measures had to comply with official regulations for listed buildings.

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A Homogeneous Addition to a Historic Ensemble

Our plan honours the building’s historical significance and expands it through a solitary construction, creating a coherent concept with regards to urban development and interior design. The “booktower”, a monolithic, yet highly contextual annex, complements the historical building’s piecemeal timbre structure, drawing on the same design elements and colour schemes as the original construction. In this way, we achieve a homogeneous integration into the small-scale surrounding. The main entrance purposely remains within the area of the ancient arched porch, as it emphasises the building’s historical significance in this new context. 

 

Stadt Schorndorf The New Schorndorf City Library  A Homogeneous Addition to a Historic Ensemble1
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Our plan honours the building’s historical significance and expands it through a solitary construction, creating a coherent concept with regards to urban development and interior design.

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A Visually Connected, Communal Experience

By implementing easily recognisable sites, our design concept bears in mind the complex organisational structure and wide-ranging demands of a city library. The reader’s journey begins on the old building’s ground floor - an open distribution zone - where the entrance, book entry system, coffee shop and reading area are located. For the new building, we transformed the typology of a historical library tower into a modern concept of reading and communication space. 

 

Stadt Schorndorf The New Schorndorf City Library  A Visually Connected, Communal Experience1
Stadt Schorndorf The New Schorndorf City Library  A Visually Connected, Communal Experience2
By implementing easily recognisable sites, our design concept bears in mind the complex organisational structure and wide-ranging demands of a city library.
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Stadt Schorndorf The New Schorndorf City Library  A Place of Celebration for Books

A Place of Celebration for Books

With a large and inviting gesture, an air space connects the floors and offers stimulating cross-references across all departments and levels. Embraced by book shelves, we celebrate “books” as a media. Along the inner parapet, the library offers countless places to rest, study, pause or simply enjoy. The visually connected experience of communality invites the visitor to immerge into the scenery and become a part of the event. Schorndorf’s new city library is a place of encounters and discoveries. With no intimidation, but a lot of composure.

 

Schorndorf’s new city library is a place of encounters and discoveries. With no intimidation, but a lot of composure.

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Facts & Figures

Client
Stadt Schorndorf
Status
Competition (2017)
Exper­tises
Libraries
Team
  • Arsen Aliverdiiev
  • Daniel Cano
  • Gunter Fleitz
  • Roger Gasperlin
  • Tilla Goldberg
  • Katja Heinemann
  • Peter Ippolito
  • Tim Lessmann
  • Mario Rodriguez
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