stockholm public library

Place: Stockholm
Type: Extension of Asplunds' Stockholm public library, open competition
Year: 2006
Project group: Ola Broms Wessel, Anna Chavepayre, Jim Hagelin, Cyrille Marlin, Nicole Meyer, Klas Ruin, Christina Shutrick, Pär Sommarström.

Polycentric "bazaar" makes new organism 

The proposal suggests one new library, a bazaar that is organised as a polycentric spatial scheme that is integrated in the existing urban fabric. The proposal suggests one large space that cover the entire plot and connect to the Asplund building as well as the Annex buildings in order to create one new organism – it is the present and the new buildings together with an invigorated park space.   This space is a general, large, horizontal room that also is connected to three storeys that are integrated in the Observatory Hill. The roofs of these storeys constitute a prolongation of the park of the Observatory Hill. Parts of the building are like small pavilions in the park. The space of this rooftop terrace or park space, together with the escalator on the eastern slope, activates a corner of the park that presently is a backwater.
The fundamental qualities of the scheme are:• That it creates one new library – the new and the old together• It enhances the present relationship between the Asplund building and the city• Maintains the Annex buildings• The Observatory Park becomes an integrated part of the library campus and is connected internally and externally to the street level• That it manifests the open accessible library, displaying the media directly to the passers by• And integrates the bazaar level of the existing building
The proposal consists of four spatial categories:1. The existing Asplund library and the Annex buildings
2. The street plateaus – a continuous horizontal space connecting Gyldensgatan and Sveavägen
3. The cultivated slope – three open floorplans integrated in the hill  
4. The park terrace – pavilions in the park