an emblem of renewal for Avignon, France
In Avignon, Jakob+Macfarlane turned a debt from the 80s library In a civic icon for the longer term, all the things with out deleting its previous. The brand new reopened Madeleine Renaud and the Jean-Lois Barrault library, now nicknamed the cover, is a lot a renovation and a reinvention, accomplished with a on the roof Metaphor and a structural node to the digital period.
Initially designed in 1985 by Jacques Prunis and Béatrice architects, the library clearly settled in French The Saint-Chamand district of the city-more uncared for than fed in current many years. The intervention of Jakob+Macfarlane, a part of the Nouveau program in France Nationwide Renouvelement (NPNRU), reforms the constructing as an emblem of group rebirth. Now linked extra on to the middle of town by a brand new tram line, the library is positioned, bodily and symbolically, because the gateway to a revitalized Avignon.
Pictures © Roland Halbe
Structure as a Treetop cover
With its revision of the Avignon Library, the idea of Jakob+Macfarlane design focuses on the robust metaphor of a tree. In line with this idea, the construction affords shelter, mild, vitality and progress. The rising central scale – its flanks lined with ebook cabinets – evokes a baggage that rises to the sky, whereas the brand new expansive roof works as a literal cover. Constructed from cross -clained timber (CLT) and included with photo voltaic panels, affords each shade and sustainable vitality, whereas celebrating the sunshine of the prodigious solar in southern France.
Whereas the metaphor of the tree affords a conceptual anchor, its bodily achievement is extra than simply symbolic. The brand new CLT roof floats above the unique concrete machine, dramatically illuminating the presence of the constructing and asserting its new identification with daring architectural readability. In comparison with the low weight of the unique construction, the brand new cover is increased, ethereal and extra receptive to its climatic and cultural surroundings. It’s a highly effective city gesture that reintroduces the library within the metropolis.
The constructing is bare by all non-structural components, whereas the unique concrete body is saved, celebrated and remoted from inside. The result’s a gross however refined shell, which places older and we, with out resorting to imitate. It’s an trustworthy gesture that respects the historical past of the constructing, making it legible in up to date phrases.
Jakob+Macfarlane turns a library constructed from the 1980s into Avignon
Jakob+Macfarlane is planning an evolutionary period
Right this moment’s libraries are now not simply ebook deposits, and the Avignon library beneath the path of Jakob+Macfarlane embraces this modification. Right here, bodily volumes coexist with digital interfaces, and areas are designed to host as many podcasts and panels as potential. This new hybrid character helps the evolving features of public libraries – locations for debate, cinema, espresso and group. Jakob+Macfarlane’s design acknowledges that individuals don’t solely learn in any other case now, however they collect in any other case.
Inside, the brand new coronary heart of the library is a light-weight fountain – lower contemporary within the quantity of the constructing to ask the sunshine of day and delimit the studying areas. Round this central objective, Jakob+Macfarlane positioned adaptable sculptural furnishings of his personal design. These studying areas tempt guests to face, disconnect and circulation by a ebook, however they’re versatile sufficient to accommodate with something follows: a poetry slam, a zoom convention or a civic assembly. An adjoining auditorium, shared with town, continues to strengthen the position of the library as an open home for the cultural life in Avignon.
The renovated library is a part of a broader airplane of city renewal for the Saint-Chamand neighborhood
A central mild brings pure mild into new studying areas designed by architects
A design idea impressed by bushes symbolizes shelter, progress and group