DETAIL English 3/2005 - Concept

Can libraries be classified as superfluous and redundant in this digital age in which we live? Couldn’t be further from the truth! Library construction is booming: highly acclaimed architects like Wiel Arets and Dominique Perrault are directing their efforts to this sphere. While the majority of libraries remain within the classical definition with reading rooms, open access libraries and online cataloguing, many are turning to new aspects presenting themselves rather as zones of experience with shopping options, meeting venues and public living rooms, or integrated multi-media and university data processing centres. But what about the building envelopes? Purist glass façades, solid masonry or even integrated newspaper images - everything and anything is possible.