Woven

New National Library Oslo, Norway

competition entry 2009

This proposal for the new Deichmanske Library rethinks the very nature of the Library; its
design challenges the library’s traditional structure, fusing building and landscape, program
and context. With fluent circulation, the new library creates a continuation of the city’s
commons through increased accessibility, permeability, and transparency within architectural
space. Employing a variegated facade, the library becomes animated, generating different
light conditions and spatial qualities without the conventional compartmentalization of space.
Through these two crucial moves, the new library captures the fluidity of the harbourfront,
creating a sensorial experience from façade into plan, where light quality guides the user
both inside and out.

The building does not sit within a landscape, but is an extension of it. The user enters the building from the west side – coming from the city centre in unison with the landscape; one walks down through the plaza – an artificial landscape -- to the level of the harbour before entering, connecting one to his surroundings at the human scale. This interaction with the water enhances the exterior public activites of the space – swimming during the summer months, and ice skating during the winter – sustaining a stimulating atmosphere around the
building.