Holl's Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark

I was recently skimming through ‘domus’ - an architecture magazine, when I came across Steven Holl’s latest project the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark. Although the scale of the building area is much larger (5600 meters square compared to Jounieh’s building area 425.5 meters square) and despite the fact that Jounieh is in an urban context, I thought a look at the partitioning of the floor plans would be helpful.
On the ground floor plan, after entering the museum, there’s a space for the permanent exhibition on the right and a space for temporary exhibitions on the left. These two exhibition spaces are large rectangles taking up most of the ground floor plan space, and if one looks on the plans they’re two regular spaces inside the irregular shaped museum. To the right of the permanent exhibition space is the auditorium that can accommodate for up 150 people. And behind the auditorium is a space for music rehearsals. Behind the permanent exhibition space is a small library connected to a discovery center.
Behind the temporary exhibition space is a restaurant overlooking a square and in front of it are the offices. Going up to the first floor, there are four spaces for storage, a workshop area and a large mechanical room.
I thought a look at the divisions would be helpful since we were having trouble planning out the spaces of different functions in our library.
To read more about this project check out the following sites.

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/Steven_Holl/herning/herning.html

http://www.architonic.com/ntsht/herning-museum-of-contemporary-art/7000371

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/denmark/herning_center_arts.htm

http://plusmood.com/2009/08/herning-museum-of-contemporary-art-steven-holl-architects/

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Just recently, only a couple of days ago actually, I was mentioning my project to a friend that works with MDE (Metal Design Engineering), while explaining the idea driving my design, the terraces that serve as the reading spaces and stacks on the interior of the library, he remembered a project that the company itself worked on in Egypt. The project was a library connected to the University of Alexandria, it's title was Bibliotheca Alexandrina or Alexandria Library and it was designed by Snøhetta. He gave me the address to their website and said I could find it there. (http://www.mde.at/projekte_e_pbs_bibliothekalexandria.htm)

I further looked into the project. The scale was of course much larger than the one we are working with, the building spams 160 meters in diameter, it reaches up 32 meters and an additional 12 meters into the ground. However I found it's context to be far more similar, the library is in an urban environment and it sits between the sea and a street very much like the site in Jounieh. It is also a historical context where more could be elaborated on the building's shape and its philosophical or historical relationship. For example the fact that the building does not sit on the earth but is rising from it or "is a part of it". Further contemplation and debate could go on about the way it links the earth and sky or the granite wall resembling the cliff near the Nile etc etc... At last this library is a good example for me to look into because it provides mostly a proposition of the type of openings and roof I can have for my library design and possibly some ideas for the interior aswell.



More information and pictures on Bibliotheca Alexandrina could be found on http://www.e-architect.co.uk/egypt/alexandria_library.htm

Cambridge Public Library

Another relevant example I found while browsing on the internet is the Cambridge Public Library in Massachusetts designed by William Rawn Associates. Although it is much larger in scale than the libraries we're designing, it is found in an urban context and the architects had to incorporate this extremely modern building made of steel and glass with the surrounding 'Richardsonian' Romanesque style. Furthermore, the building is actually an addition to the library designed by Van Brunt and Howe in 1888.

Baton Rouge Library

A few days back, Aziz Barbar sent me a link to an article written by David Basulto on Archdaily.com on The Baton Rouge Library in Louisiana designed by Trahan Architects. He wanted me to check it out because it's very similar to my design proposal for the public library in Jounieh. Not only is the design very similar but the library's concept of public and private space and the architects' interpretation of the concept is extremely close.





Check out the link Aziz sent me: http://www.archdaily.com/39140/baton-rouge-library-trahan-architects/

Municipal Library Elsa Morante

Another relevant example is the Municipal Library Elsa Morante in Lonate Ceppino. The library is a monument that was renovated… The information below is from the following site: http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/Italy/Lonate%20Ceppino/Municipal%20Library%20Elsa%20Morante

The Municipal Library Elsa Morante is the result of the restoration of the former Oratory of San Michele and its extensions. The key to interpreting the project lies in the dialectic between the existing structure and the new building, the theme that guided all the project choices. The relationship between the two presences opposed tactility with lightness, opacity with refraction: the contrast stresses the distinctive features of the two volumes. The historical building was retrieved while respecting the existing structures, through sensitive exploitation of its original features.






The Municipal Library Elsa Morante has also won the European Aluminum in Renovation Award 2009 in Brussels, in the non-residential category. The prize is awarded according to the buildings'

- Significant use of aluminum
- Energy efficiency
- Life-cycle thinking
- Contemporary design
- Socio-economic impact
- Value added to the original building

http://www.aluminium-award.eu/

Looking into Steven Holl's NYU Department of Philosophy

I found Steven Holl's concept and execution of the interiors of the NYU Department of Philosophy interesting. Here are some images from his official site: www.stevenholl.com.
The building has Offices, Seminar Rooms, Periodicals Library and Lounge and an Auditorium.

What is Design Studio III?

Design Studio III is a major 6 credit course taught by Dr. Elie Haddad and his assistant Cynthia Saab for 2nd year architecture students at the Lebanese American University Byblos Campus. This studio, as mentioned in the course description guides students into exploring 'the limits and means of developing concepts into architectural form'.

Project I: The Folly of Desire
for our 1st project, we had to design a space for a certain scenario from a book or a movie. The space (Width: 3m, Length 3m, height: 7.5m), inspired from a scene, was supposed to generate a specific course of action to the person who entered it.
As reference, we looked into John Hejduk's imaginative sketchbooks along with Steven Holl's and Aldo Rossi's designs.

Project II: Designing a Public Library or a Dance School in Old Jounieh
For our 2nd project, which were are currently working on, we were given the choice to choose between either designing a public library or a dance school. To do so we had to consider the site and the surrounding dominant old Lebanese architecture. Old Jounieh is a condensed urban area, crowded with old Lebanese buildings. Our site faces the Mediterranean Sea from its South facade and the street of Old Jounieh from its North facade.

This blog is a reference site, looking into architects that have built public libraries or dance schools in similar contexts and environments, and a record of our thoughts and process development throughout the project.