Faculty Library in Zurich
So that the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich could be brought together under one roof in the city centre, a former laboratory building, built in 1908, was redesigned, and the law faculty library was extended. A low, angular extension, erected in the 1920s, was given an extended roof of glass and steel, to house the administration area, books and reading rooms. The faculty rooms are located in the historic wings of the building, which enclose an internal courtyard. The new library has been placed on steel supports here. Elliptical galleries with reading seats surround the void, which reaches through all six floors up to a glass-covered dome. The roof light is 34 metres long and 15 metres wide, and delivers light down to the lowest floors. In summer, a hydraulically adjustable system of louvres, integrated into the dome, shades the room. The reading seats line the gallery parapets, with a view of the opposite gallery. One set of bookshelves runs round the back – as a partition to four smaller voids in the corners of the central court, which allow daylight into the old building. The dome’s steel construction is given statically determinate support at two points at each end. The curved box girder that runs along the centre is made of welded plate and rests at each end on the supporting yokes. The variously curved transversal ribs are held at the lower end by a curved steel tube. The entire steel structure of the dome was welded together on site using prefabricated elements. The equipment that provides shade consists of two symmetrically positioned systems of folding slats, driven by hydraulic cylinders. The glazing of the dome, which has an area of 712 m², is assembled on a further developed system of posts and interlocking bars, with two-stage drainage. Triangular, curved glass sections optimise the incoming light.
