Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek Library Competition

Design 1989
Second prize
Berlin, Germany
100,000 square meters
Steel frame and glass

The competition program prescribed
expanding the existing American Library
in East Berlin to house additional books
and reading areas as well as to revitalize
the desolate adjoining plazas.

"This design represents the perfect conversion of the required program. The danger of a monotone effect in large, flexible library spaces is dealt with by the organization of large rooms through a central row of skylights which wander back and forth in the building. The vertical accessing is formed by an attractive stairway system which again and again moves like an eccentric disk into the various departments. The stairway system leads in each case to an activity zone in accordance with the program. The design provides the required spatial depth for the quieter reading areas. It avoids, however, a dead-end situation in that glassed ramps are planned in the areas lying above and below which also permit the outdoor area to be experienced. The so-called >>library continuum<<
is there by made possible."

-Jury Opinion