aalborg university mediateque

Jakob Pabst Skov, Niklas Skovholm Petersen & Henrik Leander EversMaster Thesis Architectural Design, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology (ADMT), University of Aalborg, 2011

abstract

This rapport describes the design process of a new library for Aalborg University, placed in the east part of
Aalborg at the university campus. The project aims to
create a design proposal for the future library suitable
for many generations to come, therefore an analysis
of the future libraries is conducted, as well as studies
of present and past libraries. The design process have
made use of computer added design in combination
with rapid prototyping technologies to create physical
models.
As the project develops, different aspects of spatial
organisation are investigated, resulting in the term
landscape which is further developed into the project
concept.

topic

This thesis deals with the architectural design of libraries, in particular

investigating the potential and changes in functionality following the
implementation of new medias in an open-shelves libraries.
In this work, the theoretical research is developed in parallel with a
design application of the acquired knowledge, using the actual plans
of a new university library as inspiration for the definition of a starting
program for a project.
The new proposal is going to replace the present library placed outside the campus, maintaining the existing size of about 10.000 m2.
It should be underlined that the boundaries of this project are defined
together with the director of the Aalborg University Library (AUB),
which therefore could be considered as a real case study. The implicit
approach to the architectural design of this project is referring to the
Master education in Architecture & Design at Aalborg University, dealing with the topics of Tectonic, Nordic and Sustainable architecture.
Nevertheless, the topics of Tectonic are the main focus for the development of the design proposals in the present project.
This thesis aims to explore new design opportunities and solutions for
open-shelves libraries, mainly considering the potential of the implemention of new medias when defining new spatial configurations in
this kind of buildings from the morphological point of view, as well as
from the social one.
A study about the design of new libraries is therefore provided
through the development of a project, based on the real case study
of the new plans for AUB.

Title

AUM - Aalborg University Mediatheque

Faculty
Main theme
Period
Supervisor 01
Supervisor 02
Pages
Copies

Faculty of Engineering and Science

Design of a new university library to the campus of Aalborg University
Thesis project spanning from February 1 to May 31 2011
Peter Mandal Hansen, Teaching Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology
Alberto Pugnale, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
168
10

Group MA4_ARCH40

Jakob Pabst Skov

Stud.Polyt.Arch

Henrik Leander Evers

Stud.Polyt.Arch

Niklas Skovholm Petersen

Stud.Polyt.Arch

4th semester MA Architectural Design, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology (ADMT), University of Aalborg, 2011.

motivation

As the function of libraries date way back into ancient time, the library
as an institution, has always had a central position within culture and
education. In this way, the libraries have been able to set up and create basis for the knowledge society that we live within today. Libraries
themselves have in doing so become the very symbol of knowledge,
and have up through time stood out as edifice of prestige often
conducted by the most significant architects and master builders of
all times.
The library in some way therefore stands as a footprint of society and
the architectural currents of time.
As the Aalborg University campus for many years, has been ordinarily
known as a slightly uninteresting area, it now faces a comprehensive
alteration, in order to ensure a modern and up-to-date campus.
In this coherence the AUB, as a natural gathering point for the whole
university, is going to play a central role within this modernization.
Aalborg University today consists of buildings overall similar in architectural style to each other, andhere by finds itself in absence of a
landmark or icon, that can promote the university. Here it is evident

that a new university library as a natural gathering point for all faculties will appear as a symbol for the AAU.
The library through the ages has undergone an enormous development, which is why a new library would have to fulfill both present
and future tasks, and in this way create the surroundings within learning and educational environments of the future.
The library is a place bound for servicing the vast majority of the population, and it should take care of a wide range of assignments from the
search of new knowledge and learning to bringing people together.
It is a place where one finds information, gets inspired and draws social bands. Therefore, the library has to withhold all this, while at the
same time preparing itself facing the more and more digital aspects
of the 21st century, which could be pushing the boundaries of these
constitutions.
To be part of creating these physical surroundings of such a building is considered to be a highly interesting task, both because of the
strong bands to Aalborg but also in order to create the frame work of
a better campus environment for coming fellow students.
At the same time, when working with an assignment, which contains
actual future planning in order to be erected, the aspect of realism
and the possibility of cooperating with a client as the management of
the AUB, interesting and educative ventures are faced.

Ill. 1 - Aalborg University

foreword

This report is authored by Group 40 within the 10th semester Master

of Science in Engineering with speciality in architecture at Aalborg
University.
The report is documenting the work flow of an integrated design process combining aesthetic, technical and functional considerations,
aims and demands into solutions. This report is addressed to supervisors, fellow-students and similarly correspondents taking interest in
the subject area. The reader should be informed that along with the
report, a digital copy of the report augmented by digital versions of
drawing materials is located on a CD-ROM, placed in the back of the
report. The back of the report also contains the drawing material for
presentation printed in large-sized paper.
The authors wish to give thanks to the two main supervisors, along
with the rest of the supervising team at AD:MT. A special regard goes
to Niels-Henrik Gylstorff, director of Aalborg University Library (AUB),
whom has personally contributed and served as liaison with the AUB
during the entire project phase. Also the rest of the administrative
staff at AUB should be pointed out for their accommodating help
when regarding questions and library literacy.
The group also wishes to give thanks to vice-inspector Bent Tindahl
Pedersen within the Aalborg Emergency Management Center, whom
has contributed with expertize inside the field of counteracting fire.

reading guide
This report uses the Harvard-style author-date information when citations and references are mentioned. Pictures, illustrations and drawings will have a number assigned and as with reference texts, the full
source will be provided in the section of references located in the
back of this report.

the method
The method used is called Integrated Design Process (IDP). The IDP
method is an iterative process, where different phases of the project
inter-connect, and relate to each other back and forth. The process
consists of five points; Problem, Analysis, Sketching, Synthesis and
Presentation. Using the IDP as a backbone of methods, the planning
of phases very much underlines this process resulting in a range of
different stages within the overall period of design. With the Problem
Based Learning method (PBL) used on Aalborg University, the working method is featured by groups working together in order to find
plausible solutions to an initial stated problem. To be able to desiccate the problem, the work is divided into these phases. Each phase
should be characterized by several so called design loops making
iterations of the design until the design until a satisfying result is
achieved, preceding the design to a next phase. Should a design on
a later stage display lacking in performance of requests and demands
additional iteration would be made.
The IDP process focuses combining technical issues with architectonical and functional problems. This is in order to create a unity within a
building as where constructive, technical, functional and aesthetical
solutions underline each other.
Looking at the different phases, the procedures of IDP first and foremost is to state the problem, which needs to be solved. Within the
Analysis the function is to gather the amount of required information and knowledge in order to proceed to the Sketching Phase. Here
conceptual proposals and initial technical solutions are tested in order to move on to the Synthesis, where a more complex integration
of the overall aspects are assembled resulting in a final design. The
last phase in the IDP encompasses the work on producing material
for presentation in order to exhibit and display the overall solution.
[Knudstrup, 2004]

start

problem statement

program: analysis

sketching: concept

design proposal

finish

synthesis: detailing
Ill. 2 - The method used

table of content
abstract
topic
title
motivation
foreword
01 setting
AAU history and perspectives
02 investigations
the evolution of the library
case studies
03 context
the user
mapping
04 vison
05 design phase
phase 1
phase 2
phase 3
phase 4

11

3
4
5
6
8
11
13
20
24
34
44
45
46
52
54
56
66
68
74

06 detail phase
masterplan
public ground floor
organization of Book Room
administration
facade
technical considerations
structural system
fire verification
daylight verification
acoustic verification
07 presentation
08 conclusion
reflection

76
78
80
82
84
86
89
90
96
99
103
106
132

09 appendix
list of references
bibliography
list of illustrations

134
160
162
163

11

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AAU history
and perspectives
Aalborg University campus was founded in 1974, and today the university administration wants to modernize the campus. This chapter
will give a short introduction to the history behind the planning of
the campus area, and the plans to build the new university library.

campus
The story about Aalborg University campus goes back about 40 years
back, when it after a great debate was decided to situate the university outside of central Aalborg. The competition to design the new
campus was won by the architectural office Dall & Lindhardtsen in
1974, and consists of low university clusters surrounded by housing,
commercial buildings and green areas.
This campus idea with mixed functions, in one or two story similar
buildings, has proven to be a unsuccessful idea, and today the campus area tends to be a deserted place. As a consequence of this, the
university launched a new competition in 2000, which should attempt to fix the mistakes of the past, and create a modern campus.
The competition was won by the architectural firm Kjr & Richter,
together with the engineers of Rambll and the landscape architect
Peter Srensen Aps.
The proposal was to create a city strip going in an east-west direction, running through the entire campus area. This strip should then
contain all the vital functions, and thereby act as a life line in the campus area.
A central piece in this strip was the university library, and the planning of the new university library of Aalborg has been on the drawing
board for a period of time, starting after the millennium.
[Campussti og uderum] and [Projectfolder Rambll]
Ill. 3 - The city of Aalborg and the location of Aalborg University campus

13

13

Ill. 4 - The main AAU Cantina

Ill. 7 - The Klingenberg Lake next to the cantina

Ill. 5 - Typical building in brick and concrete, the campus area

Ill. 6 - Aalborg University Library (AUB)

15
Ill. 8 - Green banks characterizes AAU campus

Ill. 9 - The two main colors of AAU campus - red bricks and grey concrete.

Aalborg University Library (AUB)

The AUB today consists of five different departments located around
the city of Aalborg. One department supplies the first-year students
in central Aalborg together with the Utzon Center department, which
holds the volumes for the Architecture and Design. The rest of the
departments are situated around the main university campus in eastern Aalborg. Here the main department is located north of the area
supported by the two minor departments for law, math, health-care,
computer science and medicine respectively.
The main department of AUB was erected in the beginning of the
70s in conjunction with the main campus area. The building is a large
industrial building of one floor together with a large basement. The
whole building takes up around 10.000m2 and is situated around a
long atrium creating a main passage going north-south through the
building. Today, the library department holds around 70 employees maintaining all the administrative and library service functions.
It is constructed in a concrete column/beam system using industrial
pitched window rows for roof lights.
The main task for the AUB is to support students, researcher and scientist at Aalborg University, but the functions of AUB are public and

accessible to everyone. The collection of material is wide, covering a

large number of topics but with a focus on specified material used
within the specialties of the university branches of the AAU.
The AUB collection holds more than approximately 850.000 volumes
and the library annually acquires more than 14.000 new volumes to its
collection, whereas most are accessible for public loans. With the use
and collaboration on national level the AUB holds licenses to more
than 27.000 electronic journals together with more than 160.000 titles
of electronic books (2009 numbers). [NHK and AUB]
On a daily basis, the library, apart from providing services to patrons,
also acts as a place for study and group work. The main collection is
held on open shelves in the eastern side of the atrium together with
a more compact collection stored in the basement.
In the atrium hallway the service counter acts as a reception providing services and quick loans. Around the edges of the library rooms
for group work, seminars and lectures are located along with tables
and computer work stations placed among the collection.
Here students and university staff can come and work Monday to Friday from 8.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. The library also accommodates master students from a range of other educations filling the library space
in the weekends with up to 90 students at the same time.

Ill. 10 - Aalborg University Library

16

AUB in the future

Today the library stands as well-attended though worn building,
but during the last years, the number of patrons has been falling due
to especially digital loans. The digital aspect also concerns the direction of the library, which sees an increasing tendency of patrons making pre- reservations of books followed by picking them up at the reception instead of manual browsing and loans. It has therefore been
suggested that a new library should incorporate such tendencies
altering the library into a serving more or less closed-shelves library.
With a new and more central location for the library though, it is
thought to increase the number of patrons once again, offering easy
access for a larger part of the campus area and thereby hopefully resulting in a profiled icon and lively library for the entire university.
These strategies have not yet been settled but the initial plan to build
the new university library took shape already around year 2000. Since
then there have been developed two different proposals - on two different locations - but both were rejected in the final phase due to lack
of foundings. The location of the existing library is on the other side of
Universitetsboulevarden away from the campus area (see page 16 17). With a vision of making the library into the natural meeting point,
this has been far from ideal, so in the new master plan, the library
was placed in the center of the campus area. The visions for a new
and modern library were conducted together with the proposals for
a new and more concentrated campus downtown placing the new
library in the very heart of the campus.
The first placement of the university library was on the south side of
Bertil Ohlinsvej, where it crosses Fredrik Bajers Vej. Here the architectural firm Kjr & Richter developed the proposal in 2004. The proposal was to build a six story building, in the shape of a rectangular
box. The simple box was cut through by a street-like glass-covered
atrium, which divided the building in two parts, and created a big
well-lit community space. Even though the project was developed to
a great detail, the building was never realized, and in the long process
that followed, the location was changed due to expansion of a nearby
faculty building.
The new location (which is now the existing proposed location), is on
the east side of the rainwater-collecting lake Klingenbergsen, also
on the south side of Bertil Ohlinsvej, just across the main canteen.
This location is on the outskirts of the campus, with a vision of making the university library into a western entrance gate to the campus
area. On this new site, the architects of Kjr & Richter developed a
new proposal in 2009, consisting of four stocks in different highs, with
a mixed glass and perforated metal facade. As a central piece of the
design, it continued with the big glass covered atrium, and the well-lit

community space. This is now the newest proposal for the new university library at Aalborg University, but until now the university has
not been able to find the necessary founding, and at the moment, the
project is on a standstill until the university finds the founding necessary to realize the project. This project takes outset in these present
plans of a new university library, with base in the latest proposal for
a location.
[Campussti og uderum], [Projectfolder Rambll], [NHK] and [AUB]

Ill. 11 - The newest Kjr & Richter proposal for a substituting university library

17

Ill. 12 - Aalborg University campus and the new city strip and library sites

18

AUB

19

02

INVESTIGATION.

introduction

The distance between user and information, is becoming increasingly

smaller, and with no sign of this development to stop, the possibility of aquiring knowledge have developed from being attached to
physical places, to being accessible everywhere in the modern digital
world.
Humans have always had the need to share information, whether it
being storytelling, gossiping, news, research etc. Before the introduction of mass communication technologies, this need was fulfilled
by social interaction in the citys public spaces. These public spaces
could be considered as the internet of that time - a mass communication platform - with all kinds of different information floating around.
With the introduction of technologies like the telegraph, radio and
television this changed, and the way both individuals and society
communicated took new shapes. As the information technologies
evolves, information began to be faster and more dynamic; what happens in one part of the world is news everywhere, making the world
smaller and emphasizing phrases like connectivity, the global village, etc.
In this ever-evolving information age, libraries with its static book
collection, seem to become obsolete. But maybe the future libraries
main purpose is not the distribution of books, but the provider of an
inspiring environment, where sharing and creation of knowledge is
taking place. One technology does not make another obsolete, but
together they benefit each other, and create better conditions for the
user.
In this new agenda the role of the architect is becoming more and
more important, the library have changed from being the only solution for knowledge gathering, to one amongst many. The library still
have the benefit of being able to provide the technologies at one
place, social interaction between users and a well-educated staff. But
the creation of an inspiring work environment is becoming more important than ever.

21

21

23
Ill. 13 -Rolex Learning Center by SANAA , Lausanne, Switzerland

the evolution
of the library

The library stands at the brink of a major revolution. At no point in

time have there been as many changes in every aspect of the library
from the display, over storage of books, to the book itself. In a historical perspective the library as an institution for preserving and
contributing information, has undergone a series of changes; both
physically and in its role within society, but never at the scale and
pace as at the present moment.
To have an understanding about the future of the library this chapter will shortly look into the evolution and thereafter have a look,
at what ideas are present for changes the library should undergo in
the near future in order to survive the rapidly changing image of the
availability of information.

the past
The oldest known libraries dates back and beyond ancient time, and
the function of storing writings dates back as early as the city-state of
Sumer (4th millennium BC) [W. 1]. But the history of the library as we
know it today began in ancient Greece, first with institutional records
kept as archives and later with private and personal libraries, which
contained both non-fiction and fiction books. These traditions were
passed on to Rome, which by the time of Augustus had the first kind
of public libraries near the forums. But it was only the very few, who
had access to information kept here, even though it was considered
public, and there do not seem to have been any direct access to the
stacks of books. These libraries of the Roman Empire were in fact not
particularly erected for the public, but erected as each succeeding
emperor strove to open one which outshone the one of his predecessor as a mean of displaying power and wealth.
The same goes for the private libraries of the aristocrats of the Roman
Empire. These libraries often contained documents that were never
read by the owner, they were purely for the display of power, wealth
and knowledge. The library of that time was mainly a book depository

24

as the Greek word for library bibliothk, a combination of biblion

(book) and thk (storage place/depository), which literally means
book depository, indicates. Secondary it was a mean of withholding
and showing the hierarchical structured society. [W. 1]
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire the design of medieval
library architecture reflected the fact that the documents kept here
were precious possessions. Even though the architecture was developed as a response to the need of security, with the documents
chained to the shelves in well-lit rooms, the monastic libraries still lent
and borrowed books from each other. This meant not only having
another piece to read for the librarians, but also an enrichment of the
librarys collection, because while the book was in their possession, it
could be copied. This is the first time we really see the library function
as more than just storage facility, but as the distributor of information
and knowledge within the society, even though it was still only the
few enlightened people who had devoted their lives to study, write
and copy the religious documents. [W. 2]
In the 15th century, with the invention of the mechanical movable
printing by Johannes Gutenberg, the bookmaking, and thus the
accessibility to information, was revolutionized and especially the
Gutenberg Bible effected the establishment of new libraries. Up
through the 17th century the continuation of the development of
bookmaking provided an increase in the accessibility of knowledge
similar to what is seen today. The book had become cheaper to produce and thanks to the revival of nationalist and renaissance thinking, this proved to be the golden age for the library, as more cities
were inclined to build libraries. But not only the cities build libraries,
also cultured upper-class citizens with philanthropic visions build personal libraries. These were also opened for the public, even though
it was only to a very selected group of academics and endowed citizens. From the outside, these buildings expressed a communal cultural identity and history by incorporating neo-classicist architecture,
while they from the inside acted as symbols of power and potential of
society. [W. 2] and [Werf, 2010]
It was not until the late 19th century, that libraries truly became accessible to a wider public. As a result of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system, books were placed in a universal order and,
more importantly, for the first time placed on open shelves. Now, it
was possible for the public to access unrestricted materials for a large
possible purpose, and especially education benefitted from this. Also
important for this period is the fact, that many of these libraries were
realized with tax money, which meant, that the ownership now truly

was community-based and their collections could be seen as a reflection of a communal knowledge and culture. The truly free library was
born, and access to information bettered and advanced the democratic society. [McCabe & Kennedy, 2003] and [Werf, 2010]
The paradox though was that these immaterial systems of collecting
and cataloguing have largely remained the same the last 100 years,
while the physical manifestation of libraries has undergone an evolution following the progression of the society from being (neo-)
classicist houses of power, over industrially built equalitarian houses
of knowledge, to the present-day open houses of cultural diversity.
[Werf, 2010]

the present
Todays world witness a second major revolution in accessibility to information allowing infinite access to all information from anywhere
through the digital medias. Huib Haye van der Werf says in the introduction to the book The Architecture of Knowledge: These great
shifts in the accessibility to tools for location, contemplating and
producing information have altered the knowledge landscape from
a vertical hierarchy to a more horizontal perspective. [Werf, 2010:11]
This brings with it questions about the role of the library in society. It
sits in the middle of all these changes, and inevitably plays a role within this evolution. It is not only a symbolic institution that conserves
and distributes information, it is also an extension of the public realm.
Huib Haye van der Werf says: Therein lies a task to be responsive and
dynamic, because not only is the physical presence as public space
questionable, but its immaterial reality is debatable as well, as it either
stands at the brink of a new frontier, or at the point of disappearing.
[Werf, 2010:11]
The library still acts as a symbol of the power and potential of citizens,
and it is still the location where people meet and cultural identity is
created, but this is not the exclusive environment for this task of empowerment and enlightenment anymore. At any time in the public
realm, everybody can browse through the immense amount of information on the internet. As a consequence of this, the necessity of a
physical location could be argued to become less significant. [Wiel &
Bey, 2010] and [Werf, 2010]
The public space ventures inside the library, which thereby becomes
an extract hereof, and at the same time the functions of the library as

25
Ill. 14 -Stockholm Public Library by Erik Gunnar Asplund

Ill. 15 - Phillips Exeter Academy Library by Louis Kahn, Exeter, New Hampshire, USA

an information distributor expands beyond the librarys physical location through the digital medias. This is turning the walls of the library
itself into a formality and offers a view of a new frontier.
It could be argued that the physical building is and always should
be an important place for public gathering, information and learning,
but more and more of the knowledge gathered and produced here
expands beyond the walls of the building. This takes the library into
a new metaphysical territory of public space, in which information
and knowledge collectively is produced and consumed. Nevertheless, such a departure from the physical manifestation of itself without considering the relationship here to makes its function in society
questionable. [Werf, 2010]
As Huib Haye van der Werf says: This shift in production and consumption of knowledge assigns both the architect as well as the
commissioning body of a library the task of contemplating alternative
architectural programs for the changing function of the public libraries. [Werf, 2010:12-16]

the future
In the present research concerning this issue the discussion about
the function of the library in society seems to lead towards a shift a
shift from storing and distributing information and knowledge to the
production and curation of information and knowledge. And a shift
towards a more versatile institution that focuses more on the public
functions like the possibility of random encounters and knowledge
transactions between people in the physical public space . But it is
also discussed, whether the book as a printed volume of paper and
ink is on its way out because of the mass-bombing of digital information or in which way the library should deal with this.
The opinion in the research establishment seems to be that the book
is on a retreat as the main source of storage of information and knowledge, but not that this will remove the importance of the library as
an institution. The library must embrace the digital era and allow the
digital media to be part of the library institution on the same level as
books.
In The Learning Jungle the architects Rients Dijkstra and Jason Hilgefort describe the library of the future as such: The Library of the Future is not a building. It is a concept ... The Library of the Future must
be an idea on how to help the book survive the onslaught of the new
media; and allow the graceful retreat of the book as the dominant
medium for the storage of knowledge, art and fiction. By giving books

27

We need a
library where the
distinction
b e t w e e n
digital media and
books no longer
exists.
(Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010:69)

a new meaning, they will form a vivid background to the growing

offerings of digital media. [Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010:67] And they
continue: The biggest threat to the current library is its failure to integrate i.e. treat the digital section of their offerings in the same way
as books. ... We need a library where the distinction between digital
media and books no longer exists. [Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010:69]
The library must also free the books from the shelves, so they can
mingle in the public space like the digital information in the public
space of the internet. And by this also free the librarians from organizing books to their natural role as curators of knowledge and learning.
Industrial designers Ester van de Wiel and Jurgen Bey describe, in
Public space as public library, the role of the librarians as the authority who judges the vast information available in the immeasurable
space of the internet: what we miss here is the critical authority who
can tell us how we should judge that information. Real knowledge
only becomes available provided someone can formulate the research inquiry precisely and someone can assess which information
is worthwhile and which is gratuitous, coincidental, untrue. [Wiel &

27

Bay, 2010:45] But they still see the qualities of the physical habitat of
the library, and describe the library as an enriched environment where
instant access to all information is present, while random encounters
with others is possible: In our vision, the library of the future will not
just be literally, and certainly not exclusively, a book depository. What
will remain is its physical character a place where encounters can
take place and its symbolic meaning: the democratic right of free
access to knowledge for everyone. [Wiel & Bay, 2010:44]
One of the main issues withholding the libraries from embracing the
digital era and freeing the library to be a place for discovering, consuming and producing knowledge is the outdated categorization
system. The current library is not flexible enough for this to happen.
The space is too defined by the tying of books to fixed shelves, the
finding of books is often too confusing and as said before the digital
and physical information are completely separated. Many are working on implementing digital technologies to make the spaces easier
to access, but maybe the implementation of the digital should rather
augment an already diverse physical space by making it more playful, challenging and interesting. As the director of the Netherlands
Architecture Institution Ole Bouman puts it: ...we see an incredible
number of people trying to adopt these new technologies to make
new environments smarter, smoother, more neutrale, and capable of
being monitored. However, in contrast, there are relatively few trying to use technologies facilitating smart environments to enhance
peoples experience, to make it more complicated but also more challenging. [4D, 2005:16]
Rients Dijkstra and Jason Hilgefort talk about the idea of replacing the
categorization system with a system of RFID chips as the first step in
freeing the library to embrace other functions than the depository of
books. RFID chips in each book will liberate them from their shelves
and let them mingle in the public space of the library by the possibility of locating books digitally. This means that one can enter the
library and get instant directions on your cellphone on, where the desired book is at that moment. This frees the librarians from the tiring
detective work of locating literature. It also gives opportunity for the
embracement of the digital media by for example web-like search,
user preferences, user ratings and instant links to other similar information back and forth between digital and physical medias.
This opens the availability of a new and more dynamic organization
of medias a self-organizing system that will shift the way organizing
is perceived by being adaptable and allow users to change the location of the media. It can for example dynamically adapt itself to reflect

28

Ill. 16 - Rolex Learning Center by SANAA, Lausanne, Switzerland

29

Ill. 17 - Self-organised library concept

Ill. 18 - Popular books and medias move forward, and less readen moves to the storage

Ill. 19 - New ways of programming the library due to RFID

30

the different media used during different seasons by bringing this to

the front of the library while pushing the unused medias to the background. It also provides the opportunity of encounters with others of
same interest by the availability of locating books that are in use, and
that way provide a better opportunity of the sharing of knowledge
between people in the public space of the library thus creating random social encounters, that might not had happened otherwise.
What Rients Dijkstra and Jason Hilgefort propose is a library with
the desired qualities of a park environment with assorted media lying around, and where users may chat, lounge, read, listen and stroll
freely among knowledge and each other. A library of, what they call,
the micro shelve, which would allow for a variety of media, flexible
of both storage and space, and can be adapted to the wishes of the
users and the demands of space. This could take form ranging from
series of shelves in the background to user-organized piles of books
and ever-changing small enclosures. [Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010]
Another approach to the library of the future could be to look in to
the places in which reading occurs, especially public reading. Both
because this is the all-important act that congregate the library and
also the fact that books do not possess the inherent and intrinsic
capacity to cause publicness, as many had assumed. [Velden, 2010]
Like philosopher and professor Bart Verschaffel expresses it: Let us
therefore consider the library, not as a place where books are stored
and borrowed from, but, first of all, as a place and an environment for
reading.[Verschaffel, 2010:86]
In his article Guessing the Future of the Library he investigates the
places in which reading occurs, and he considers under which mental
stage what kind of reading occurs in different environments. His conclusion to guessing the library of the future is that of a reading palace, where people will visit to read like if they go to a music concert.
An environment with different reading situations from caf, bookshop, scholar room, sitting room with a fireplace and piano music,
study cells, to a roof garden to read while walking or sitting next to
the fountain, etc. He writes: The Palace can provide the conditions
for an intense, concentrated, rich, and diversified reading experience.
What is even more important, however, is that in this way the form of
the vita contemplativa remains publically represented in the modern
city as a possibility. [Verschaffel, 2010:93]

Ill. 20 - People hanging out in a park

Ill. 21 - The qualities of the park are drawn into the library

31

What will remain is

its physical character a place where
encounters can take
place and its symbolic meaning: the
democratic right of
free access to knowledge for everyone.
[Wiel & Bay, 2010:44]

conclusion
From this it appears that the library through evolution has been a
representation of the society and values within. Therefore, a change
in the organization and functions of the library is inevitable, if it is to
survive. The library must embrace the digital era and entangle itself
within, so no difference in digital media and books are present. It appears that the library as an institution for distribution and storage of
knowledge will move in the background for the functions of producing and managing the vast amount of information and knowledge in
any form of media. The library will still be the main function of storing and exchanging knowledge and thereby fabricating culture in
the modern society. The physical presence of the library will still be
important, but it will move from being the caretakers of knowledge
to being a public place for producing knowledge and for mingling
and browsing through both the digital and physical knowledge of
the internet and the society, and very importantly existing in society
as a public space for the possibility of human encounters and sharing.
The book will probably remain as the main source of knowledge, but
will still be considered equally with the digital knowledge. And more
importantly it will always act as the representative of knowledge, culture and history in the physical world. One could imagine that with
the digitalization of literature, books will gain the same appreciation
as vinyl records have after the digitalization of music.
The architecture of the future library should allow flexibility and dynamic changes where the possibilities of publicness and random encounters are present while at the same time allowing concentration
and privacy for the consumption of knowledge .

33

33

case studies

In this chapter the aim is to investigate the main developments in

the architectural design of libraries, focusing on master references
with a particular attention to the more recent experiments within
the 20th and 21st century. The selection of libraries will consist of a
compilation of recognized libraries from around the world. The purpose of this chapter is to present both the typology of the selected
libraries, and the architectural aspects behind the spatial organization.

The Stockholm Public library (1928) by Gunnar Asplund is chosen because of its interesting combination of neo-classicism and beginning
contemporary approaches both inside and outside along with being
one of the first open-shelves public library within the Nordic. The Phillips Exeter Academy Library (1971) by Louis Kahn is represented due
to its recognized and famous dramatic atrium and tectonic use of
materials. The TU Delft University library (1998) by Mecanoo is chosen
due to its innovative form and arrangement. As two eastern representatives the Mediatheque (2001) and the Tama Art Library (2007),
both by Toyo Ito, is selected to distinct a Japanese approach of libraries. Also from a present approach the Seattle Public Library (2004) by
OMA is selected to represent a pragmatic and contemporary Dutch
architecture. As the newest example the Rolex Learning Centre (2009)
by SANAA is chosen due to innovative thoughts of library design
mixed with different functions, which is also the case with the Multimedia House by Schmidt-Hammar-Lassen Architects dated for 2014.
As to follow up on the previous discussion on the future of the library,
the selected libraries pictured in the following text has been subjectively chosen based on both new solutions and by the forward looking perspectives on, how the future libraries are going to function.
As an attempt to rationalize the complexity of the library buildings,
the functions of the libraries have been dissected into smaller fractions in order to help compare different typologies and designs. The
classification and comparison can then be described on the basis of
their main differences and innovative sides resulting in a specific
knowledge gathering according library terminology and typology.
This will then function as a range of inspiration to be drawn out, in
order thereby to select positive elements to candidate the following

34

sketching and design phase. In the Appendix, the full compound text
concerning each library including a presentation of functions and a
review on the architecture can be found - along with references used.
This following text is based on these individual studies from the Appendix and is going to hold the selected functions up against each
other to terminate the overall study. The libraries selected are depicted on the following page.

comparison
As mentioned above, the different elements comprising the selected
libraries have been pointed out. Starting the description from the outside areas, the text will then stepwise move inwards and define each
separated function of the relevant reference projects. The aspects are
presented below:
typology
facade
entrance
foryer area
book collection
workspaces
caf
administration
construction

Rolex Learning Center

Client: EPFL (Polytechnic University of Lausanne)
Architect: SANAA
Completion: 2009
Gross floor area: 20,000 m2
Office space for: 100+ staff members
Study areas for: 860 students
Printed works: 500,000
Ill. 22
Floors: 2 (one is basement)

Multimediehuset, Aarhus, Denmark

Client: Municipality of Aarhus and Realdania
Architect: Schmidt-Hammer-Lassen Architects
Completion: Planned 2011 - 2014
Gross floor area: 30.000 m2
Ill. 23
Floors: 4

Sendai Mediatheque
Client: Sendai City
Architect: Toyo Ito & Associates
Completion: 2001
Gross floor area: 21,682.15 m2
Ill. 25
Floors: 6

Tama Art University Library

Client: Tama Art University
Architect: Toyo Ito & Associates
Completion: 2007
Gross floor area: 5,639 m2
Printed works: 100,000 books
Floors: 2 above ground
Ill. 24

TU Delft Library
Client: ING Real Estate
Architect: Mecanoo Architects
Completion: 1998
Gross floor area: 15,000 m2
Workstations: 1000 +
Floors: 4
Ill. 26

Stockholm Public Library

Client: Stockholm City
Architect: Erik Gunnar Asplund
Completion: 1928
Items: 4.400.000 (2.000.000 books)
Gross floor area: 3.700 m2
Ill. 27
Floors: 4 stories

35

Seattle Public Library

Client: The Seattle Public Library
Architect: OMA/LMN
Completion: 2004
Gross floor area: Total 38,300m2 (incl. 4,600 m2
of parking)
Printed works: 780,000 (on opening 2004)
Work space with computers: 400+
Ill. 28
Floors: 11

Phillips Exeter Academy Library

Client: Philips Exeter Academy
Architect: Louis Kahn
Completion: 1971
Total floor area: 6.861 m2
Items: 160.000 books
Ill. 29
Floors: 9

typology
Beginning with the outside the oldest library among the selected,
the neo-classic Stockholm Public Library stands out together with the
Aarhus Media Space through the use of pedestals, raising the buildings high above the city. Where the platau and staircases here provides space for public functions and recreational areas through the
use of a separate structure, the TU Delft incorporates a recreational
outdoor area above its own volume pulling the surrounding landscape up on the roof scape. On the contrary the Rolex center works
with the surrounding landscape by pulling it underneath its volume,
creating connecting recreational pathways below the building.
Similar outdoor areas are not represented in the other selected libraries; instead the Seattle Library together with the Sendai Mediatheque
and the Phillips Exeter Library offers open roof gardens on top of the
volumes emphasizing the positive element of recreational access to
outdoor areas for the users of the buildings.
As the first aspect into characterizing the libraries, the overall functions can be classified by either public libraries or university libraries.
For this text the TU Delft, together with the Tama Art Library and the
Exeter make up the selected university libraries. By also looking into
public-serving libraries, the aim is also to study the social aspect of
such library-types in general.
In order to determine the different typologies of the selected libraries,
the cases can roughly be divided into three main types; a) a traditional
vertical stacking of floors seen with the Seattle Library, the Mediatheque, and the Exeter and b) a low horizontal orientation with the
Rolex Learning Center, the Tama Art Library, the TU Delft Library ,and
Aarhus Media Space placing the Stockholm Library c) soaring between a mix of the previous two, containing both a horizontal lower
element and the vertical cylinder.
The differences between the libraries are of course caused by different architectural approaches but can also for example for the Mediatheque and the Seattle Library depend on a narrow urban contextual
condition resulting in high-rise buildings where the Rolex Learning Center for example is located in a mere suburban quarters of the
Lausanne campus, creating room for a low landscaped building.

the campus, the main issue for the AUB is the remotely placement
away from the connecting campus.
As with the AAU area and this project in mind, an aspect of height,
visibility and recognition-factor of a library from long distances may
concern the visual impact and architecture according to developing a
building, which can be used as a landmark to navigate from.
Inside the libraries very different spatial principals are incorporated.
The Aarhus Media Space almost tents to simulate a large covered
public square, using only one large, and high-ceiling room for the
main library functions. The use of urban elements can also be seen in
the Seattle Library, where the uneven stacking and incorporation of
many functions upon each other, creates large covered squares and
many varying heights, terraces and niches. In terms of the selected
libraries, it can be stated to resemble a modern shopping mall typology, with its use of large covered areas providing both shopping (in
this case library functions), recreational areas and also parking underneath. The Rolex Learning Center also uses many of these spatial
elements. Here, the movement through the building is though not
upwards but around a landscape of different services and functions.
With the Mediatheque as a range of compact open plans shattered
with functions, the TU Delft stands out as a one room volume
though providing much more open space and horizontal orientated
functions than for example the Aarhus Media Space. As with the Exeter and the Stockholm Library as the oldest libraries, these resemble
a more traditional focus on library-related aspects together with the
Tama Art Library.

When looking on the varying heights and footprints of the libraries

together with different urban or suburban contexts, it is noteworthy
to look back on the AUB Library. The AUB shares the similar typology
with the Rolex Learning Centre (low large one-story-building), but
where the Rolex Centers bulging learning landscape is located within
Ill. 30 - Seattle Public Library and its large open browsing area

36

entrance
When looking at the entrances of the selected libraries, these can
be divided into two types; a traditional main entrance and a diffuse
open access from many sides allowing visitors to seep inside from
all sides. With the first type, along with the neo-classical entrance of
the Stockholm Library, the TU Delft works with an impressive staged
entrance, carved out of the grass landscape. The Exeter also works
with one main entrance only. On the contrary, the Rolex Center together with the rest of the libraries stands out keeping the first floors
open from many sides, with no demarcated entrance resulting in a
very informal approach and easy access to the building. As with the
enclosed appearance the incorporation of de-centralized entrances is
also a step away from the typical neo-classic trend, which characterizes many old libraries of the 19th century today.

Ill. 31 - Seattle Public Library with its transparent skin

facade
According to an architectural aspect, the facades of the libraries has
been assessed in order to determine the function and means by the
appearance of the selected buildings. From the closed facade of
Stockholm Library to the completely open glazed facades of the Sendai Mediatheque, the aspects of transparency maintain. Apart from
Stocholm library and the semi-open appearance of the Exeter Library,
all the other libraries possess large transparent facades. As mentioned
in the history about libraries, the perception of libraries (and other
public institutions) through the last century has moved in terms of a
protective shell towards a more democratic revelation, meaning that
the terms of transparency both in systems and more literary speaking has demanded a relieve within the appearance of the public
buildings as shielding enclosures. At the same, time the opening up
of the facade has been made possible by innovation in materials and
construction, but may also have been of use for the libraries, in order
to translate the function of the library out through the facade to the
public and its users as a service manor.

37

Ill. 32 - Sendai Mediatheque and its open ground floor

lobby/foyer area
With the foyer area of the Tama Art Library only sheltered from the
outside by a floor-to-ceiling glazed faade, the sloping ground of the
lobby acts more as a public transition area between outside and inside. From the entrance areas direct access is provided to the reception by only one door, acting as a sluice entrance to the library areas.
As with the rest of the libraries, it is generalized that the public reception areas are placed at the bottom of the buildings, acting as the
welcoming area together with service and information guidance. The
lobbies are also characterized by the use of lounge areas and furniture
for waiting visitors along with toilet and service facilities.
The TU Delft is comprised by one large four-story lobby room binding
together the entire building, only divided by the large cone housing
the reception. In the Seattle Library the level of the context is two
floors higher on the backside of the building resulting in different levels of entrance. This has resulted in the use of a three-story high room
with large escalator bringing the visitors up to the main level. The
sluice aspect is also used in the Exeter library, where the lobby is made

up by the impressive atrium at the first floor. Here visitors encounter

the reception desk as the first thing when entering the room from the
cornered spiral staircase. The use of a large central staircase is also incorporated in the Aarhus Media Space, connecting all visitors through
a large main reception area from below the pedestal.
At the Rolex Center the reception area is located slightly up the hill
when entering through the main court yard. Here the floating landscape reveals itself taking the visitor past the information counter and
into the white scenery. Only the Stockholm Library is represented
with a slightly smaller reception area located at the right hand of the
entrance. As with the general function of a foyer, the many different
lobbies shown in this case study, is created in order to provide an
informal open atmosphere capable of dealing with large amounts of
visitors at the same time, though providing a certain degree of security towards the collection by either incorporating the use of sluices or
detectors placed at the exits.

Ill. 33 - Rolex Learning Center with curved interior spaces

38

Ill. 34 - Stockholm Public Librarys main book collection

book collection
Within the library terminology there are two general types of collections. One collection which is on display, and one, stored away, often
made up by rarely loaned volumes, broken or outdated materials, and
lastly significant volumes of great importance, not suitable for public
loans. [AUB]
As the main collection of volumes stands as the key aspects in the
general understanding of libraries, the actual way the books and medias are kept tends to vary from library to library.
The Phillips Exeter Library represents a traditional way of libraries, with
the collection on display located on long straight rows of shelves and
a more compact collection stored in the cellar (the same appears with
the AUB). The separate book shelves create a monotonous, repetitive
order on each of the four floors they cover. The same type of shelves
is used in the Mediatheque and in the Tama Art Library but in the
Tama library, the shelves contribute with a more dynamic order due
to the alignment of the construction, creating interesting curved fans

39

of shelves. In the next described libraries the book collection are used
in a more three-dimensional way, working with upwards movement
between the books: In the TU Delft, the lending collection has been
stacked on a four-floor tall wall, run through by narrow pathways and
staircases. Here the different books create an enormous visual wall
painting of colors in the tall and open foyer hall.
This aspect was also uses in the Stockholm Public Library, where the
books are placed in a circular pattern, stepping upwards and away
from the main book hall creating almost an ancient arena of books.
In the Aarhus Media Space the upwards moving motion is resembled
in a media ramp comprised by a large plateau stepping upwards,
containing both books and other media. The movement upwards is
emphasized in the Seattle Library, where the main collection is located on a four-floor ramp spiraling up around an atrium. The idea with
the spiral is to create a continuous connection between the different literatures providing an on-going supply of new shelves for new
requisitions.

workspace
The workspaces characterized by the Stockholm Library, consist of
a traditional reading hall with rows of tables and chairs. The work
stations are surrounded by books, and light is provided form highly
placed windows. The Exeter library provides the traditional shielded
carrels, which are not seen in the other selected libraries. These carrels
are located next to the walls with high windows and isolated quietly
away from the atrium by the book shelves. This provides good light
qualities for studying. In the Rolex Center, the Aarhus Media Space and
the Mediatheque, the workstations are located in clusters around the
entire building. These clusters differ between enclosed glazed boxes
for quite studying to regular group tables into more informal furniture
formations for relaxed work. Both the Seattle and the TU Delft libraries also provide different large clusters of work areas. The TU Delft
mixes between a very large area for students, with rows of tables and
computers to the more intimate and quite work stations provided by
the cone in several separate floors. The packing of the Seattle func-

Ill. 35 - Sendai Mediatheque with public work stations

40

tions upon each other provides a large covered internal urban square,
which also provides hundreds of workstations with internet access
for the visitors. These standard workstations are supplemented by a
range of different lounge areas with high caf-chairs and -tables, and
comfortable couch areas between different functions. With a large
focus on medias other than books, the Tama Art Library and the Mediatheque especially offers interesting areas for viewing digital audio
and visual media. These areas are characterized by more intimate surroundings with low ceiling height and comfortable chairs, together
with a placement away from window glare and sun reflections. These
two libraries also offer large areas of lounge furniture for the only purpose of relaxation and stay within the building.
On top of the book spiral in the Seattle Library the entire floor is reserved as a reading hall. Other traditional enclosed reading halls are
also found in the Mediatheque, on a raised level between the two
book collections on third and fourth floor and in the wing of the
Stockholm Library.
As for visitors browsing and service areas, the Stockholm Library uses
its main book hall, which is provided with different counters giving
assistance and information. In the TU delft this is provided by the reception area under the cone, as well as in the Exeter, but in the Seattle
Library a large area on the fifth and sixth floor is reserved to interaction between librarians and patrons. This creates an immediate feeling of easy access for help and guidance. The same close services are
seen in the Rolex Center, the Tama Art Library, Aarhus Media Space
and the Mediatheque.

caf
Within the Rolex center, the different cafs located around in the
curved landscape of the building, are situated on small plateaus with
different step heights in order to follow the sloping floors as much
as possible. This creates small islands which are circled by a glass railing, creating different spatial divisions within the otherwise open hilly
environment. In the Mediatheque the main caf is located on the
ground floor, in a corner next to the entrance. Together with the large
glazed facade this creates a well-lit environment and a lot of visual
overview, both to the inside and outside. In the Aarhus Media Space,
the main cafs are located in the pedestal pointing towards the harbor. This creates both great views to the harbor front and allows for
outdoor service in summertime. The cafs in the Seattle uses the large
differences in heights to create interesting overviews across some of
the downstairs activities, at the same time providing visitors with the
possibility to bring the books to the caf area.

administration

Ill. 37 - Administrative floor of Sendai Mediatheque

For staff working in the administration area of the Mediatheque, the

office workspaces are located on some of the same floors, which are
accessible by visitors. In order not to close off these offices entirely,
organic-shaped semi-transparent walls have been incorporated.
These walls create dynamic pathways and corridors and brakes the
rigid lines of the building. Such organic shaped curved walls are also
used in the Rolex Center to shield or demarcate office workspaces for
staff members. In the TU Delft the staff offices are located in a cluster
in one end of the building, which is also the case with the Tama Art library, where the staff office areas are closed for the public. In the Seattle Library the administration is provided with a placement at the very
top of the building allowing offices and meeting rooms with a view
to the nearby harbour. This location is also incorporated in the Aarhus
Media Space, where the entire office section and administration is
placed in the polygonal upper volume of the building. In the Exeter
and the Stockholm library the administration is provided within the
lower parts of the building, in separated areas.
Ill. 36 - Seattle Public Librarys lounge area

41

construction
In continuation of the spatial matters of the libraries the structural
aspects can be derived to look at how the structures underline the
spaces within the buildings. Both the Stockholm Library and the Exeter Library use masonry in their facades, resulting in heavy enclosed
facade envelopes. Inside the dome of the Stockholm Library, the large
plastered walls reveal use of large rocks instead of bricks. The large
span of the dome is hidden away under the rendered roof but is carried by an arched structure supported by beams and trusses in steel.
On the contrary, the inside of the Exeter is constructed with large reinforced in situ concrete structures, creating the large spanned atrium.
Also in the Tama Art Library, the use of reinforced in situ concrete
has resulted in a range of varying arches following curves around the
library, resulting in both stability for the curved walls, and a division
of the library space into smaller areas. The Rolex Learning Center also
makes use of concrete, but here the large spans of the sloping landscape is held up by the use of pre-stressed cables, which then have
been encased in concrete and then polished. These large spanned
arched concrete slabs then carries the similar shaped roof on thin
steel columns. The very roof is made out of a lightweight steel-ribbed
structure in order to keep down the weight.
The same type of steel-ribbed structure is also integrated within the
concrete slabs of the Sendai Mediatheque. Here, they span the entire floor areas connecting them on the many horizontal tubular steel
structures providing large open areas while holding up the entire
building. The steel columns are preassembled and welded together
by large steel pipes and then later on put together in sections during
the erection of the building. The TU Delft Library also uses a construction of large steel pipes to carry the large spanned open central room
of the building. Here, the large characteristic concrete cone underneath - acting as a large column - is carried by a range of triangulated
steel tubes allowing for an open ground floor within the reception
area.
The Multimedia House in Aarhus stands out as the construction is a
more traditional column and beam construction made out of concrete. To support the straight rows of large squared columns these
are supported by nine large concrete cores containing elevators
and staircases protecting these from fire. Here the large number of
straight columns acts as dividing objects within the large otherwise
open room.
As the last library, the Seattle also stands out with its load-carrying
structural facade grid. The grid is constructed by large squared hollow
steel columns. Together these create a strong and dynamic facade

carrying the entire building. This gives the possibility to obtain very
large spaces and squares inside the building. To divide these large
spaces every second floor is constructed as an enclosed box providing smaller spaces and niches for work, books etc. The rest of the
floors are then located on top of these enclosed volumes making
these floors completely open. Binding together the whole building is
a range of concrete cores with staircases supporting the large escalators otherwise running through the library.

Ill. 38 - Concrete structure of the Phillips Exeter atrium

42

conclusion
As this analysis acts as a brief specification on the libraries, it is not
concerning the contextual placement of the libraries, and the interaction to the context, thus focus will be held on the organization of
functions and spatial features. The text will try summarizing on the aspects enlisted in the study, in order to specify and provide a potential
design brief for a future library.
Beginning from the outside, the arguement of the use of transparency entails the aspect of opening up to the activities inside. This will
reveal the functions of the library to the outside thus emphasizing
open knowledge-sharing. In order to communicate the way into the
knowledge of the library, the entrance area/areas therefore have to
be visual and easy to access from the surroundings. In this report, this
feature also circles around the visibility of the library at distance; due
to the request of the new AUB library acting as a light tower of orientation.
The different recreational areas enlisted also points in the direction
that as well as indoor areas, outdoor spaces will function as an extra
offer to the visitors in summertime also advertising the life and functions of the library to the general public.
Inside the building, the study seems to show the necessity of good
overviews from the reception area providing information about functions within. In many cases, the entrance floor also acts as the public
square of the building, housing all the public functions, services and
informal stays.
As with a public square the rest of the library clings around this central spatial element for example working with different heights, other
spatial constellations or city scape making interesting combinations
that urges investigation. Beside the traditional library functions the
usage and placement of other functions forces the blend of both
knowledge and social relations. This would also include areas of recreational aspects providing time for resting. On the other side smaller
and more intimate areas are required as a counter-strategy to large
open areas.
As both people and activities differ from each other, the aspect of
learning craves many different environments for knowledge gathering. Going from completely silent study areas, calm semi-private
carrels, to reading rooms, comfortable lounge areas to maybe caf
inspired areas will provide everybody the chance to find and personalize a request of reading. Regarding this, the library has to accommodate both individuals and smaller groups, especially in terms of
the Aalborg Universitys working model.
Whether the light is a combination of natural daylight or electric

43

lights the amount should be selected for the different purposes of

activity inside the library.
Books can be used as graphical pictures in the library as well as in different spatial organizations as a contrary to the 20th century straight
rows of books. The library also has to make room for the incorporation of the two types of collections, which aims on either hidden or
shielded display of the collection not in use.
As for the staff office areas, these should be provided with a restricted
access, but also contribute with life and activity, which should be incorporated within the design of the library.
Regarding a caf and other caf-like quarters, these can with advantage be used to create informal areas for studying along with the rest
of the work stations.
Finally, the ever growing collections of digital medias urge for an incorporation of modern facilities providing the viewing of many digital
medias to be placed within the library. This in combination with upgrading and finding new ways to adapt existing medias to the modern usage of knowledge searching for example the incorporation of
RFID chips in physical volumes such as books, magazines etc.

03

CONTEXT

Before initiating the design process, an understanding of the area has to be conducted. The context analysis will consist of a look into the
use of the existing library, accommodated by a vision of how the use of the library should develop in the future. As an addition to this, a
mapping of the area will be provided, which will include a climatic as well as a contextual analysis.

Ill. 39 - University students at work within the AUB

the users

Today modern libraries are in many ways defined by the users. The
function of protective knowledge storing has passed, and today the
libraries are open to everyone, developing itself into the direction
of being a place for social knowledge production, which in the end,
places the users as a central piece in the design of a modern library.
The fowling chapter describes how the students use the existing
university library, and provides a vision of how the user should embrace the new library.
The use of the existing AUB has already developed away from the
traditional library, and is today also used as educational space for the
one-year master degree program and Ph.D. students. This has proven
to be a very successful mix, and has contributed to bring life into the
library, thereby creating a more dynamic space. The library is also being used by the undergraduate studens and staff, but the amount of
students change a lot during the differnet semester periods, and has
not been as high as the library expected.
The university has a collection of 867.702 physical volumes, a third of
which is going to be thrown away when moving to the new building. All the books are ordered by the Universal Decimal Classification
(UDC), which is a further development of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), and the system used by most university libraries. At
Aalborg University, using the UDC, the system divides all books into
ten main categories, which then are devided in ten sub categories,
which then again have ten sub categories. UDC uses numerals based
on the decimal system to classify their material, an advantage of this
system is that it is infinitely extensible, and when a new subdivision
are introduced, it do not disturb the existing order. [W. 3] and [FF]
The diagrams to the right shows the level of activity during the week
and during a semester, the diagrams are based on conversations with
Niels-Henrik Gylstorff, the director of AUB, and should therefore be
seen as an approximation.
The first diagram shows the activity level during the week. During the
week days the users are the staff and students. While the number of
staff is consistent, the numbers of students vary a lot during the day.
Today students just enter the library to pick up their books, and then
leave again, only a few students are inspired to use the library as a
place to study. In the weekends the library is used as education space

for the one-year master students.

The second diagram shows a vision of the activity level for the new
library. The important thing to notice here; is that the number of students is higher, and they are inspired to stay in the library for a longer
period of time. As an addition to that the library should provide conference facilities to private companies, which could also contribute to
a communication between these and the studens visiting the library.
The last initiatives is to get private people to use the library.
This diagram shows the activity level during a semester. Here the important thing to notice is that the activity level change a lot during
the semester. This is due to the library mainly being used in the initial
face of the students project, when the students need to gather information.
The last diagram shows the vision of the activity level during a semester. The vision is to create a higher and more consistent level of activity during a semester. This should be done by creating inviting and
interesting spaces and by introducing other than just library-related
functions.

Monday

Tuesday

Students

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Ill. 40 - Weekly activities of different user groups within the AUB

One year master students

Library staff
Conference activity
Privat people

Semester start

Semester ending

Ill. 41 - Activity and use of the AUB during a semester

45

45

mapping
The mapping is an investigation into the important aspects of the
surrounding area, and should in the end provide an understanding
of the university area.
The chapter will contain six investigations; an overall distribution
diagram, a close-up distribution diagram, four sections through
the surrounding area, a flow diagram and finally a sun and wind
diagram.
These investigations accommodated by site visits and photographs, should provide the contextual knowledge needed to start
the design process.

46

Ill. 42 - Panoramic view of the site

Ill. 43 - Panoramic view from the site towards north

47

UNIVERSITETSBOULEVARDEN
UNIVERSITETSBOULEVARDEN

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OLYMPIA

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FIBIGERSTRDE

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Y BRAN

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Institute for energy technique

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Institute for production

EINSTEINS BOULEVARD

FREDRIK BAJERS VEJ

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NTUES

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Auditorium

Auditorium

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PONTOPPIDANSTRDE

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Housing

Housing

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BERTIL OHLINS VEJ

Auditorie

Auditorie

Future buildings

THO

MAS

Main canteen
Main bookshop

Main canteen
Main bookshop

PONTOPPIDANSTIEN

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Amtsgrd

Future buildings

MAN

NS VEJ
BERTIL OHLINS VEJ

BERTIL OHLINS VEJ

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1. sal

SITE

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1. sal
2. sal

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MAN

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MOTTELSONSTIEN

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Ill. 44 - Aalborg University campus: Black represents AAU buildings, red represents
residential housings and blue represents commersial business.
ER

TRA

ND

48

Ill. 45 - Aalborg University campus: function distribution

distribution diagram

close up distribution diagram

The diagram shows how the different functions (university, residential

and commercial) are distributed in the campus area. The main functions in the area are university and residential buildings mixed with a
few commercial buildings.

To get an understanding of what the buildings surrounding the library-site contain, a close up distribution diagram of the area is made.
The diagram shows that the students area, is located to the north and
east, with the main canteen as the only common building, where students from different faculties meet. Functions situated to the south
and west is planned to contain administration.

s1
s1
s1
s1

s3
s3
s3
s3

s1
s1
s1
s1

s4

s2

s2
s2
s2
s2

s1

s3

s3
s3
s3
s3

Ill. 46 - Map with section lines through the campus

s1

s2

s3

s4
s4
s4
s4

s4

50 m

50 m
50
50 m
m
Ill. 47- Sections through the campus area

heights
The buildings in the campus area are constructed mainly in one or
two stories, and only a few of the newer building breaks this pattern. To investigate how the buildings close to the library site vary in
height, four sections have been illustrated. Two that investigate the
existing buildings in the area, and two that investigate the new area.

49

N
10
Jun 21

Jun 21

20

Jul 21

May 21

30
40

20 h

04 h

50

Aug 21
19 h

Apr 21
05 h

60
70

18 h

06 h
80

Sep 21

07 h

17 h

16 h

Mar 21

09 h
14 h

10 h
13 h

Oct 21

08 h
15 h

12 h

Nov 21

11 h

Feb 21

Jan 21
Dec 21

Dec 21

Bus trafic
Car trafic
Main bicycle

Ill. 48 - Map showing the main flows within the campus area

50

Ill. 49 - Sun diagram

flow

sun and wind

Aalborg university campus is designed as a pedestrian area, cut

through by a few main traffic roads. Future plans include a light rail
connection directly to the center of Aalborg.
The functions at the campus are distributed over a large area, with
pedestrian walkways between almost every building. This makes it
difficult to define a main pedestrian flow clearly, although the main
canteen acts as a focus point in the western part of the university.

To get and understanding of the environmental factors, a sun and

wind diagram is developed. The sun diagram is made to study the
movement of the sun during the year. This knowledge base will be
used as foundation for studies of shadow effects, which a new significant higher building could cause. The wind diagram is made to get
an understanding of the main wind directions, and how they change
during the year.

Janurary

Ill. 50 - wind diagram for January

April

Ill. 51 - wind diagram for April

July

Ill. 52 - wind diagram for July

October

April

Ill. 53 - wind diagram for October

conclusion on mapping
The library site is situated just next to the main bus line, which provides a good connection between the city and the library.
As the campus area consists of buildings in one to two stories, all
within the same architectural language, it is difficult to navigate in
the area and to specify some points of interest would be obvious. As
it is today the only point of interest in the area is the main canteen,
therefore it is decided to orientate the building site towards the main
AAU canteen. This will provide a better connection between the two
buildings, and at the same time create an even more dense area.
The entire campus area is planned to fit within a straight grid, which
gives all buildings the same overall direction, an element that will
have to be considered when placing the building on the site.

51

04

Here the results of the investigations manifest itself into an architectural

vision for the project. The vision is divided into main themes, which are
found important when designing a modern and innovative university
library within the AAU campus context.

VISION.

context

The first step of the function of the library should be to enforce the
future plans of a compressed urban strip through the AAU campus.
With the location it should embrace the visitors of the university as an
entrance gate to the campus from west. Within the campus area, the
building should function as an easy recognizable landmark enabling
the inhabitants in navigating the low streets of the university. With a
visual contact to the main AAU canteen, a central placement of the
library will contribute to the life around the city strip.

expression

First of all, the library should express and emphasize its function as
a place to work and study. Through an appearance of transparency,
the function of the library should define a cultural place attributing to
diversity with the ever present opportunities of random encounters
for knowledge sharing, being it physical or digital.

atmosphere

The overall inside atmosphere of the library should be well-lit and

welcoming with a large spatial feeling.
It should at the same time offer a variety of different possibilities of
experiences and places to explore.
This should also be incorporated in the general movement around
the building, which should allow a three-dimensional access in the infrastructure. To do this, the building should provide interesting views
from many sides and angles by the use of different floor and room
heights.

53

collection

The collection of books should be thought in as a spatial and visually

interesting element, and by this prepare the book for a retrieval as
the main information source to an equality with the new medias, but
withholding its symbolic nature for the community, knowledge, culture and history. At the same time a focus on other media is important
and new medias should be well-integrated providing access for new
types of usage. This should also concern flexibility within the collection, in order to withdraw for example predeceased books in favor to
modern media.
As a gesture to the large collection not on display, this group should
somehow be opened up and revealed instead of hidden away in consistency-less cellar rooms.

public aspects

The library should provide a variety of possibilities for informal social encounters in terms of spaces and points for persons to meet.
It should be a place for social interaction with a focus on both the
function as a place for knowledge gathering but also a site for knowledge production. This should be read and result in different degrees
of public space around the building, giving the possibility for incorporation of other user-groups and functions from the local area to create
an environment of diversity and liveliness

05

DESIGN
PHASE.

Ill. 54 - Picture from the design phase

55

design phase 1
After gathering information regarding the contextual aspects within the university campus and the AUB library the actual upstart of
the design proposal is initiated. Along with the writing of the project
program, a range of meetings with the executive administration of
the library were held. Here specific aims and requests together with
wishes and initial ideas were discussed as well as the present Kjr
& Richter proposal was deliberated. This proposal has meant that
the AUB already possess a detailed and elaborated set of schedules
regarding desired room programs, square meters and other related
material concerning a future library. This material has been used a
outset for this project.
Design brief
The overall design criterion is a new university library with the size of
approximately10.000 m2.
The functions are going to relate to the present AUB with a main division between an open shelve collection of different medias and a
compact collection system.
Within the project, the number of shelf meters are taken from the
Kjr and Richter proposal. These numbers were later supplied by a
new measurement conducted by the staff of AUB in part behalf of
this project.
The amount of books within the AUB collection holds more than 12
km of volumes. In order to keep track of these vast amount of papers
existing within the modern research libraries (the Harvard University
libraries for example holds more than 16.000.000 volumes [harvard.
edu]) the entire lengths of shelving are processed by dividing with
2,5. This is the result of a general simplification where 40 volumes are
set to form one shelf-meter, equal to 2,5 cm pr. physical unit. [harvard.
edu]
Within the appendix the entire sum up of the room program and the
required room sizes can be found.
Apart from the collection of volumes, the library is going to contain
a reception area along with a foyer area suitable for exhibitions. The
new library should also hold a larger canteen area and a caf for the
visitors along with a wide range of auditoriums, seminar rooms and
meeting spaces for students, master-students and staff. Then there
should be a range of reading areas along with group facilities and
other student facilities. As a new element the library should hold a
video cinema, able to conduct video projections in larger scale.

56

The administrative quarters should hold a working staff of around 70

people.
Finally a range of more technical elements should be incorporated
ranging from storage facilities to service maintenance.
Compared to the room program developed by Kjr & Richter, a few
functions are added to create a modern library, that can fulfill a wide
range of different purposes. The two functions added, are the university fitness, which currently is situated in a basement close to the site,
and AAU media that also could benefit from a more inspiring environment. The university fitness as well as AAU media is both functions
that are relevant to all students, and could thereby be beneficial when
aiming to create a gathering point for the campus area.

Location of the library

In the new plans for the library and appertaining administrational
buildings, the location of the library area is placed in the north-eastern corner within the group of new buildings. This leaves the library
with a long distance of emptiness towards the AAU canteen and the
lake. This is regarded as a problem and is assessed to be too far away
from the center of activity in order to make the library a central gathering point within the new densification of the area. Therefore, one of
the initial acts in the design of the building is to move the site towards
the lake in order to create visual connection and shorten the needed
distance of transport with more than 75 meters.
Looking at the AAU campus, one of the most distinctive elements of
the area is the north-south going grid, which has been applied to the
entire university. Around the lake the building volumes are furthermore characterized by approaching of 50 x 50 m blocks including
both university buildings and residential housings. Within the new
location the surroundings are embraced by having faculty buildings
like laboratories, auditoriums, and the AAU canteen on the opposing
side of the bus-road, lake, and the residential areas of Klingenberg to
the east.
An initial approach to create a simple volume was made taking origin
in the 50 x 50 m base. As the building height was set to 31 meters by
the authorities (and the wish of a landmark), this as a start was used;
resulting in a tall cubed like volume. To investigate the spatial effects
of such a volume within the site, an unrefined model in 1:500 was
created.
The first initial idea was to turn the library volume towards the angled
corner made up by the lake and the road. Here, the library building
would come really close to the canteen building, resulting in a 45
degree angle volume compared to the north-south going grid. The
idea of this was to make the building stand out; to literally break with
the grid, creating its own starting point within the area. As the building elegantly followed the lines of the road and the lake, this position though by time was questioned. This issue became clearer when
elaborating for the design, because what was actually the case, was
that the building in all its eager to break with the 90 degree design of
the grid had returned to the same strict and rigid lines with the incorporation of the 45 degree turn achieving perpendicular diagonals
going north-south.
Instead the building was turned back to the regular grid in order to
create a more natural composition within the site, accompanying the
rest of the context instead of working against it.
Two lines, a north-south going and an east-west going were drawn

from the present neighboring buildings which initially settled the volume north-east of the residential housing, maintaining the evening
sun, while still allowing a six meter wide passage around the building
to the north.

Ill. 55 - Original site for the library

Ill. 56- Initial location of site

Ill. 57 - Final location of library

57

Initial volume experimentation

Besides the initial cubic draft volume, tests were made experimenting
with various geometrical shapes in order to investigate the spatial effects created by other compact shaped volumes within the site and
the context. These tests amongst other featured a cylindrical shaped
volume, which compared to the square created no direct element of
orientation due to the circular plan. This was the same case with a
more organically shaped amorphous volume. As experienced these
tests revealed well-established spatial qualities around the buildings,
but also showcased a lack of hierarchy and defined spatial character
in terms of a potential square around the building. The following experiments were conducted by volumes taking their origin within the
initial boxed volume, testing different simple configurations of formlanguage.
As the initial conceptual ideas for the interior of the library at this time
was yet only on the drawing board, a feeling that if the inside of the
library should be as impressive and complex as described within the
architectural vision, the exterior should not necessarily comprise a
vast expressive outside appearance.
A facetted suggestion proved to be a too forceful element together
with a twisting of the box. Another attempt working with a dynamic
rounding of the volume proved interesting along with a volume com-

58

prised of displaced boxes initially inspired by the inside of the Seattle

Library showcased in the case study.
Simultaneously, with the initial volume experiences the work with the
inside of the library was started, and it became clearer and clearer
that the outside appearance should reflect a simple and meek exterior thus revealing the inside through its facade emphasizing the
key library functions kept inside.

Ill. 58 - Twisted volume

Ill. 59 - Amoeba-shaped volume

Ill. 60 - Rounded edges

Ill. 61 - Displaced volumes

Ill. 62 - Cylindric volume

Ill. 63 - Faceted volume

Initial inspiration and ideas

Historic aspects within display of books
When designing a new library one of the first things to be carried out
is to investigate the history of libraries, in order to create and buildup knowledge and literacy within the fields of libraries.
In terms of designing a modern library the aspects of research mainly
encircled contemporary libraries from within the 20th and 21st century, but, in order to draw on inspiration and references towards the
past, a minor search for old and long-established libraries was also
conducted. This should contribute to establish a thread within the
new library and the evolution and historic aspects of previous libraries.
The architectural research looked for historic and architectural reading rooms and book-displays in order to be incorporated within the
design and development of this project. As a summery the three libraries that were found most interesting is depicted here. What they

Ill. 64 - Austrian National Library in Vienna (1722)

59

all have in common is the impressive display of volumes (often in several stories) which is found to be both interesting and useful within
this project. Especially, the Trinity College Library attracts attention, by
the way books are revealed as integrated within the overall structure.
This makes it appear to be the books carrying the building merging
the tectonic aspects together with the function of the columns supporting the bookshelves.

Ill. 65 Old Reading Room (1857)

(former British Library), British Museum, London, UK

Ill. 66 - Trinity College Library (1732), Dublin, Ireland

The user experience I

Work and social aspects
In the chapter of the prospective future of the libraries, one of the
main opinions within the research establishment was elaborated being the important aspects and focus on the incorporation of public
functions. Both the possibility of knowledge production together
with the more social aspects of mingling, browsing and personal encounters are enhanced. In order to attract as many patrons as possible
and to offer a vast range of possibilities a list of different ways of seeking knowledge is generated. This is thought to incorporate many
types of stay, rest and study situations together with many types of
work conditions. The illustrations depict situations that are intended
to take place within the new library. The different stages of contem-

plation are in this simplified into the acts of different postures and
ways of interacting. The types of work situations are an anticipated
mix of functions ranging between concentrated studies of scientific
literature and relaxed fiction reading/listening to music. The same regards should be shown to the type of work conducted by students,
staff and the public; providing a library offering different sized workstations, both suitable for individuals and for larger groups.
As regards spaces for social interaction and informal meetings, this
should also include the same variation of different types of areas able
to offer different moods and atmospheres. Both to people discussing
over a cup of coffee or the crowd of students awaiting class should be
thought of providing spaces for both silence and lively chatter.

Ill. 67 - Sketches showing different work situations

Standing browsing and conservasations

Carrel-like stations
Teaching posibilities

Standing service and guidance

Liftable tables (i.e. for staff)

Focused vs. relaxed

Steps and edges for sitting

Stools and low sitting possibilities

Regular work stations

60

Caf-tables and chairs

Different sized work stations

Edges and areas for hanging

The user experience II

The adventure
As the previous text showcased ideas of how the more static activities
of the library should take place, a more dynamic approach is thought
of the movement around the library. As described in the vision the
inside atmosphere and physical frame work inside the library should
provide a large spatial feeling enabling the visitors and patrons to
explore and investigate. As much as easy navigation and overview
should be embodied as much should the patron also be allowed to
withdraw to a remote corner with possibility to be absorbed within
reading.
As the building should stand out as a landmark in the area, reaching
tall over the campus, the integration of general movement around
the library would be an unavoidable issue and due to this, doing so
could just as well be made interesting. This is also seen in contrary to
the rest of the campus area which only encompassess low-rise buildings, and where the movement is much more comprised by horizontal movement. As the best example to this, the present AUB itself
stands as comprised by only one floor above ground. Another aspect
of the incorporation of height within the new library is the possibility
of differences in levels and room heights, which could provide interesting views and visual connections within a pulsating work space
tying functions more together than what is today comprised by the
atrium within the AUB building. Finally, the use of visual connections
should be used in terms of piloting around on adventures; always being able to steer around by incorporating elements of different hierarchies and points of orientation.

61

Ill. 68 - Visual connections created by variations in heights

Programming the functions

Clustering of functions
When mapping the different functions together with sizes and initial
connections an intricate diagram emerges. In order to get a comprehension of the large amount of rooms and square meters, the functions are divided into clusters of similar meanings and purposes. The
main library functions of keeping the volumes are assembled under
the term collection. Areas for study and social encounters are set as
Study and relax, while the entire functions of running the library are
gathered within administration. The rest is collected under the term
Public, which holds the vast range of the utility rooms, canteen functions together with the large number of seminar rooms, auditoriums
etc.
This act creates a small group of building blocks, that programmatic
can be seen independent and therefore reorganized according to requirements, activity and outer rations.

Study & relax

collection

open
group
rooms

Administration
other areas
service

reading
hall

exhibition news
paper coffee

teaching

shop

video
cinema

student facilities

internal

foyer

work places
master

toilets

canteen

auditorium

conference

seminar
room

Public

Ill. 69 - Initial room programming

62

City typology and stacking of functions

After clustering the functions, a number of layout proposals investigating different configurations between each other emerged. Due to
rational approaches the public functions in most of the cases were
placed in the ground floor, offering small variation between the proposals. Though the incorporation of a public platform in the height
offered interesting aspects together with the collection held in the
very top of the building, these were decisive rejected as well as placing the administration in the middle, which were thought as quite a
barrier towards the study room.
In terms of what and how different wings of the library should be
put together, there have in an early stage appeared a comparison of
the library functions with the city as a term. This comparison was
conducted due to the similarities found in the organization of functions within the interpretation of a stylistic city; seen as containing a
town square where major public functions are gathered followed by
a more intimate and personal district/park consecutive followed by
surrounding functions servicing the city.
This vast abstract interpretation of functional organization found its
way into the project as a way of rationally explaining the hierarchy
and composition within the building.
As the organization of the city center was the source of inspiration,
the decisive layout of the library was conducted by locating the public functions (resembling the town square) within the ground floor of
the library in order to provide access from all directions. The incorporation of the public area in the ground floor will also enable a recreational area within the library suitable for a foyer area and areas for rest
between seminars and conferences. It will also provide short access to
the canteen areas from the rest of the campus area.
In the new proposal the entire library function is assembled together
under one roof incorporating both the collection and the studies conducted within. This is described in the illustration as a park an aspect
and term also used in the chapter describing the future of the library
by the meaning, that this place should provide a casual atmosphere
compared to the public ground floor, which should meet a more pulsating and active atmosphere. The main library function should be located in the very heart of the building thus creating a band through
the building, accentuating the stacking of the three functions.
Finally the administrative wing as the service element is located
in the very top of the building. The administrational staff is the user
group to occupy the building most of the time, thus providing these
with an interesting view and good lighting qualities. Finally, after a
meeting with the AUB it was clarified that the vast amount of employees are going to be engaged with organizational task and are not
going to be present as service personnel within the browsing.

sevice
park
plaza

sevice
park
Public square

sevice

sevice

park

park

plaza

plaza

sevice

sevice

park

park

Public square

Public square

Ill. 70 - Organization of functions within a city is used as reference to the organization within the library

1
Administration
Study + Relax

Administration

Administration

Administration
Study + Relax

Collection

Collection

Study + Relax

Public

Public

Public
Collection

Public
Collection
Study relax

Administration

Study

Study

Administration

Collection

Collection

Study + relax

Relax

Administration

Collection
Public

Public

Storage

Storage

Ill. 71 - Different initial configurations for the stacking of functions - no. 5 pictures the seleted design with the public ground, study
and collection in the middle and an administrative wing in the top.

63

Public
Storage

Introduction of the landscape term

In order to investigate the possibilities of three-dimensional movement in correlation with the display of books several conceptual ideas
were presented; all engaging the aspect of exploration and movement within heights. Each concept incorporates the possibility of
vertical climbing together with different views and interconnections
visually and between spaces and platforms. Although these models
represent conceptual proposals, they at the same time work with the
creation of squares in conjunction with open rooms and more enclosed private areas and niches. To categorize the ideas each model
is labeled within three concepts; landscape, valley and mountain.
Within the landscape term the models are concerning the aspect of
possible vertical coherent movement.
The first model works with the escalation of heights within one large
room creating interesting and differentiated spaces all the way up to
the top platform. It offers different ways of navigation together with
the hierarchical incorporation of a square in the low parts and areas
for intimate studies and immersion within the higher levels. As a vast
amount of space is occupied to the levels and ramps this though is
in lack of space for books. The next three models exhibit the possibility of movement within and between stacked floors. The first two
investigates the connection possibilities of stacking. These concept
models create interesting spatial landscapes within each floor taking
visitors up and down, while at the same time providing large spaces
for bookshelves. Nevertheless, they do not fulfill the long views and
the lack of central unifying element. An atrium in the last two models
does include this aspect, but the spiraling of overlapping floors does
not provide suitable space for books.
The concepts working with the term valley makes use of terraced
canyons, where streets and paths carves their way out of solids. With
the straight valley a strict room is achieved providing total overview. This is changed with the bending in the other model dividing
the room and the street into separate sections. When adding more
canyons a potential unifying square is achieved as showcased in the
last valley model, which creates corridors and openings of different
orientation and size allowing an easy navigation within. As an extra
element the bridges creates new connections and pathways urging
for exploration.
The final group contains a concept of a more organic approach where
hills are drawn up creating peaks and heights along with valleys and
corridors. The model creates a complex network of combined streets
allowing both a centered square along with the different quarters
separated by the mountain peaks. As hills are merging together they
create pathways also in the height, which provides dynamic and interesting qualities.

64

Ill. 72 - Model with escalation of heights

Ill. 73 - Model with stacked and tilted floor slabs

Ill. 74 - Model with stacked and tilted floor slabs 2

65

Ill. 75 - Spiraling and overlapping floors 1

Ill. 78 - Terraced floors creating a curved valley

Ill. 76 - Spiraling and overlapping floors 2

Ill. 79 - Model with raised floors creating peaks

Ill. 77 - Terraced floors creating a straight valley

Ill. 80 - Model with morphed peaks

phase 2
Evaluating the concepts
Upon the early draft models circling the qualities of an artificial landscape, a set-up was conducted with the purpose of assessing the
qualities and disadvantages of each of the models. Within this, the
aspects described in the previous phase were evaluated and considered, and it was found that no individual concept possessed the
envisioned and wanted comprehensiveness to be taken on as a main
concept. It was then established that a concept would either consist
of a hybrid of previously showcased models or, the landscape as a
vision would have to be further investigated.
This resulted in the experimentation related to the concept of the
mountain, but instead of working with handmade elevations, the
concept was derived to a two-dimensional surface, which was then
inside the Rhinoceros (tm) software exposed and manipulated to extruded peaks. This would create double-curved surfaces that by the
use of a simple computer program, developed specific for this project with the parametric software Grasshopper (tm), was transformed
into contour line upon each other creating the plans in the building.
In the same way, the program was used to generate the slabs and
walls, by slicing the double-curved surface in the horizontal direction. The developed program generated a great degree of freedom to
create interesting forms and shapes while maintaining control of the
placement of levels and walls, resulting in a very fast work flow where
quite complex models were created within a short period of time.

The Book Mountains

The result of this process was a new conceptual model incorporating
a vast range of the qualities of the previous generation of models; the
possibility of three-dimensional movement, differences in heights,
possibilities of overlooking views, private and intimate areas inside
the hills together with options for squares and paths.
The combination of the vertical and horizontal slicing, resulted in a
rational and straight divisions of the surfaces into usable slabs and
walls. By doing so, a new concept became evident at the same time;
namely the incorporation of books and volumes within a standardized system allowing for a large amount of shelves. The incorporation
of vertical walls reaching all the way down to the ground also made
it apparent to use this system tectonically, by incorporating columns
and loadbearing walls these places. This aspect would result in a conjunction between books and structure, which were initially requested
in the vision.
Initial design of the administration
As the work with the library room evolved the administrative wing
above also began to take shape. Within the cardboard model a test
with two superjacent floor slabs were made. This though proved to
work against simplicity of the three stacked floors above each other,
and it was decided that the administration should only hold one single level. What was also initially elaborated in the model, was the penetration of Book Mountains through the floor slabs of the administration, which created interesting and unusual spatial configurations.

Ill. 81 - The contour-lines created by use of

the parametric software Grashopper

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Ill. 82 - Initial model with mountains

67

phase 3
Further investigation
As it was made clear that the new concept possessed the desired
qualities, the field was broadened out in order to perform different
tests with spatial configurations and shapes. Different approaches of
form were conducted ranging from rigid and tight idioms into very
organically curved surfaces.
At the same time, the required elements from the previous conceptual models had to be incorporated.
As investigations quickly showed, the presence of a mountain in the
middle of the room would occupy too much space inside the room,
thus resulting in the orientation of hills to the periphery of the library
room.
This automatically created a central low area suitable for e.g. a square
with browsing, but it also revealed a too enclosed spatial feeling
where the library room would appear too withdrawn to itself while
turning its back to the context, somewhat like a bounded volcano
crater. The solution to avoid this was taken from the previous conceptual model of the valley. By arranging the mountains oblique in front
of each other, an s-curved path was achieved stretching the square
across the north-south axis of the building. This opened the building
up in both these sides creating an inviting peek into the building, thus
revealing the books and library functions inside.
As the peaks became more and more characteristic, questions of
vertical movement and transport began to rise. As a natural step staircases and elevators were placed centered in the mountains facing
out towards the facades, determining the upright transport within
the entire building. These staircases would also create a shift in the
rhythm of the small cubed enclosures created by the waffle-structure.
Access between the underneath public area of the ground floor and
the browsing area were also created within the same typology of extruding surfaces, resulting in a smooth stalactite hanging from the
ceiling in the ground floor.
A low area of the canyon towards the southern corner of the room
was made into a caf area due to the cornered orientation and the
possibility of access towards a southern sunny recreational area.
Around the conducted cardboard model, a range of emerged niches
were also investigated and found interesting in terms of creating different study and relaxation areas.
The previous works with incorporating different hierarchies already
was exhibited in the cardboard model moving away from equally
sized mountains and into a differentiated number of magnitudes.

68

Ill. 83 - Models testing different levels of stringent curvatures

Initially, the work with reconsidering the first waffled model ended
out in a new proposal. As the first model was seen as a test of the concept, the new model was made reflecting a simpler layout where the
expressive peaks of the initial model were resized and relaxed in order
to advance a more rational and esthetically tighter curvature. Along
with the scaled down architectural grasps, the way the peaks reaches
its climaxs was changed towards being restrained by the edges of
the boundary squared shape. This meant that the mountains only
slope inwards avoiding useless small peak-tops and waste-spaces behind them.
The administration also received a range of tests configurations conducted with focus mainly on its affection within the library room. As
the underneath of the wing would appear as the roof within the library an effort was made to make this more interesting than just a
white surface. This resulted in a proposal where the use of the developed program (slicing-tool) again was used.
As the constructive function of the administration was not yet settled
at this moment, different structural systems were at play. One of these
incorporated that the actual floor slab of the administration acted as
a large ribbed beam construction, spanning all the way between the
Book Mountains while carrying the roof on columns. This of course
would incorporate a large ribbed beam construction and here the
use of the waffle-tool could create the desired effect. The idea was
to create a curved surface reaching its peak at the middle where the
forces would be vast, thereby creating a sky of either one-way running or gridded cassettes in the roof. Alternatively, the construction
could be reversed creating a carrying roof in the administration from
where the administration floor would hang, leaving a potential more

Ill. 84-101 - Investigations of the mountain concept

69

smooth surface.
Lastly, the administration was thought to incorporate some kind of
skylight for several reasons; first it would provide more light inside the
administration itself while at the same time easing the consumption
of material creating a lighter construction. Lastly, a skylight down into
the library room would provide the room with a large amount of daylight from above removing focus from the vast sized roof area, plus
giving visual connection between the administration and the main
library room.

Midterm seminar
The midterm seminar was held the 7th of April 2011, where the atthe-time-being concept of the library was presented. Together with
the new cardboard model a range of sketches and visualizations were
produced. A draft plan and section was also drawn explaining the
different elements within the three bands of functions.
After presentation, a critique were held where responses and constructive comments were discussed.

Resting
Reception Toilet Reception
Elevator

Carrels

Toilet

Elevator

Books

Books

Elevator

Workspace

Toilet

Workspace

Ill. 102 - The skylights within the ceiling

Administration

Books

Cafe

Workspace

Books

Books

Uni. Fitness
AAU Media

Books Carrels

Books Cafe

Toilet

Books

Toilet

Books

Staircase

Cafe

Conference

Toilet

Auditorium

Ill. 105 - Draft section from midterm seminar

Reading hall

Book mountain
- Books/Volumes
- Workspace
- Carrels
- Toilets

Book mountain
- Books/Volumes
- Workspace
- Carrels
- Elevator
- Toilets

Ill. 103 - Cassette-roof following double curved cieling

Service
- Sluice

Video cinema

Browsing area
- Newspaper
- Magesins

Cafe

Book mountain
- Books/Volumes
- Workspace
- Carrels
- Toilets

Media room

Ill. 104 - Beam construction following curved ceiling

70

Ill. 106 - Draft plan from seminar

Ill. 107 - Model from midterm seminar

71

Ill. 108 - Sketch of Book Mountain from midterm seminar

72

Ill. 109 - Sketch of cafe and browsing area

73

phase 4
Learning from midterm seminar
The reflection of critiques and responses put forward on the meeting circled around the main aspect of the Book Mountains. As it was
concurrent stated, the peaks had lost some of its energetic as it was
rationalized in the model from midterm. As a consequence of this, the
focus was put on the initial vision of the project, which inspired to rethink the layout once again. The focus on rationality and attenuation
of the building had removed its virility.
As a result the peaks once again were drawn up high with an even
more differentiated hierarchy as result.
To create the possibility of flexibility the floor slabs within the Book
Mountains were made open with columns allowing detachable
systems of shelves.
The largest Book Mountain was likewise drawn out through the roof
construction in order to create a connection and link between this
corner and the AAU canteen on the opposing side resulting in a
dramatic top point.
As another step towards a more utilizing use of the Book Mountains
was to determining these to carry the overhead placed administration. This was signified by the placement of the three largest peaks
within a triangle across each other creating a solid tectonic tripoded
support.
In order to incorporate an element of adventure the elevators were
moved from the vertical cores and into the library room, following the
slanted curves of the mountains creating an interesting tour upwards.
The footprint of the building was also changed from 50 x 50 m to 47
x 47 m, which entailed a little less intrusive appearance the height
proportion though was held keeping the overall proportional aspect
within 1,6 resembling the golden ratio, making the mani building
height 28 m.
Finally, an idea, which had for long just smoldered, was taken forth,
namely a concept of drawing the organic landscape inside the building out and make use of it in a recreational way.
This was going to underline the curves of the Book Room, beginning
in the southern part of the site and then building up as a wave, running through the building and peaking at the very top point of the
building.
This created a dramatic motion tying the south side together with
the building.

74

Ill. 110 - Sketch showing the escalation of the landscape and the peaking top

Ill. 111 - Sloped lifts provide vertical transport within building

Ill. 112 - Sketch of the landscape ffloating out of the librarys southern side

75

06

DETAIL
PHASE

Ill. 113

77

77

the master plan

The overall development plan for the entire building site traces back
to the initial analyses and mappings from the program. As the area
and space close to the library defines the link to the surrounding context, it is of great importance, that a right layout is defined in order to
accommodate the many different functions within the area. As the
mapping and the investigative site visit revealed, the main element
of importance would be to manage the traffic to and forth the library
in order to ease the access for the visitors and patrons. Secondly, the
placement of the project would denote the library as the linkage
between the campus and the new wing of administrative buildings
bound for the south-western area of the university.
This entailed that the different sides of the building, created by the
north-south going location would have to be analyzed in terms of
functions.
Beginning with the northern area, this would represent the direct
contact with the rest of the campus.
Due to the northerly orientation, the square will be in shadow during
the day, which indicates that the space would not invite to a longer stay, but merely function as an area of transit. Together with the
shade, the urban character and the use of the space for passaging
resulted in a hard surface pavement suitable for many visitors during
the entire year.
Along the lake side across the AAU cantina, a new wide strip of pavement is going to ensure safe traffic for pedestrians and cyclist from
the immense traffic of busses passing the site every 5 minutes. The
lake itself has been cut by the same lines as the building, to emphasize the action of the cutting of sides in the library volume. This has
resulted in a medium sized square directing all visitors from the north,
east and western part of the university towards the library. On the
new emerged western bank of the lake, a submerged recreational
area with a wooden deck has been located which will receive sun
both in the morning and the afternoon. The original bus stop has
been moved a few meters towards the AAU canteen in order to keep
the area around the north-western corner more open for passage, resulting in a six meter corridor past the building.
The access strip runs along the western side of the library where
the landscape slopes up towards the south-west. In order to follow
these tilted surroundings, the lines and rhythms of the sectional Book
Mountains have been traced down into the square. In the western
square these lines are then extruded creating a low ramping stair
towards the south. The line-work is also traced out in the northern
square linking these two areas together and at the same time links the

78

outdoor area together with the building giving the illusion that the
building is reaching or melting out into the area.
In order to create a guiding effect towards the library and the administrative buildings behind it, another line work has come in use, namely the angled 45 degree bus road defining the northern square. By
adding these tilted lines as dividing objects across the straight ones, a
series of guidelines are created.
To create a spatial more interesting public area, a number of these
blanks are raised in order to create seatings, beds and foliage. Some
other blanks have been submerged a small amount in order to capture rain water causing a mirroring reflective effect.
Last but not least, the northern square close to the library volume
holds a large amount of parking spaces for bicycles.
On the western sloped square the same urban elements are present,
but this side is far more seen as a square for recreational stays because
of the non-shaded location. On the west side the entrance to the storage room of the library is found, it is provided with the possibility of
reversing a truck directly to the entrance doors easing delivery of
freight and books. The western square also holds a couple of shortterm parking reserved to the library staff together with a number of
handicap parking lots.
The rest of the parking spaces are located to the south-west of the
library, behind a new low administration building.
On the contrary side of the library, the eastern side is characterized by
a compilation of high vegetation down to the lake. This foliage shields
the underlying residential housings and is going to be preserved. A
small path is drawn along with the north-south going cut in the library, connecting this side to the south parts of the building site. Travelling down this path takes the visitor on to the southern side of the
library complex, where the landscape of the book room is drawn out
of the building in order to create a recreational green southern slope,
that are characterized by green organically curved surfaces with small
enclosures and systems of paths. The landscape is in direct connection with the caf located in the south west corner of the bookroom,
where the landscape is pulled up, creating an area for outdoor service
and stays in the summer period. The curved landscape covered by
concrete lamellar sloping up towards the building contains the two
auditoriums, a video cinema and storage facilities underneath.
At the very south of the site a larger green barrier is created of foliage and trees in order to create a green fence towards the dormitory
rooms further south.
To the west of the green landscape a small transit square is located,
providing light traffic a passage towards the library.

Ill. 114 - Draft sketch of the area and the masterplan

79

the public ground floor

To indicate the ground floor being the entrance gate to the building,
the use of a clear glazed band is incorporated and slightly drawn inwards. The transparency of the ground floor facade creates openness,
draws in light, and gives a sense of lightness to the building while
at the same presenting the functions inside. Different entrance areas
are placed all the way around the ground floor, while the presence of
the main entrance is kept similar to the other entrances. This should
reflect the idea of oozing arrivals from all sides and not only a single
entrance gate.
Entering the library from the north the first thing seen would be the
book store caf area facing out to the northern transit square. The
organization inside the public ground floor is centered around a large
square, which on the middle is divided by a mezzanine.
The use of a mezzanine floor both creates interesting floor heights
inside the same room, but it also allows for direct views and connections between the functions of the first floor and the compact storage located behind a glazed screen underneath the mezzanine floor
slab. This both provides visitors with a glimpse of the large compact
shelves systems, and enlightens and cheers up an otherwise not that
interesting enclosed basement. The eastern part of the room is dedicated to a cornered caf (which includes the possibility of outdoor
serving in summer periods) together with new facilities for the university fitness center Uni-fitness, which is in two stories. On top of the
caf the AAU media platform is located overlooking the lake.
In the south-eastern corner the area is arranged with storage facilities,

80

creating a quite zone towards the neighboring residential building.

In the other side of the square, the teaching facilities are located on a
line along the western facade. Here university and corporate master
students will attend lectures and afterwards split up in smaller groups
for project work and assignments.
Binding everything together is the large stalactite-shaped staircase.
It contains a spiraling stair that attaches to every floor from the compact collection and all the way up into the Book Room. The staircase
also holds a lift for transportation of new books and library material
between the shipping/delivery room and the library collection. Inside
the staircase, an information counter also allows for personal service
and guidance.
From the mezzanine, two raised balcony floor, provides access both
to the before mentioned AAU medias and in the other side to the
seminar rooms above the conference rooms.
Instead of one large canteen the cafeteria function has been divided
into three smaller units offering different configurations of meals as
seen within shopping malls and airports. This should also invite the
visitors and patrons with new experiences.
Finally, the ground floor houses the large auditoriums, which both
provide seating for more than 100 persons each. Indoor recreational
spaces for stay and rest are generally provided for both the main indoor square and for breaks within seminar, conference and auditorium lectures.
As described within the vision, the auditoriums are also seen as small
theaters capable of offering public evenings and events outside normal opening hours, which should attract the population of the campus area inside the library creating a vibrating house of culture.

Ill. 115 - Conceptual sketch of the ground floor showing the main square and the entrance to the Book Room

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organization of the Book Room

The overall concept behind the bookroom is to create the feeling of
being in a book world, a landscape of books that makes the users
eager to go on adventure and explore the library. The bookroom is
thought of, as being the very heart of the building, and the transparent facade reveal the books visually from the outside.
As referred to earlier, the modern library contains many different functions of activity. The Book Room is going to contain a mix of workspaces (single and groups), media area, video cinema, cafes, areas for
relaxing and meeting rooms. The different functions are organized so
that navigating around the library becomes an experience; between
open and closed areas, active and not active, working and relaxing.
In this way, the users are always confronted with new impressions,
which make piloting around in the library an interesting and eventful
experience.
All the reading areas are placed towards the north, to create good
and calm lighting conditions for reading, and in the case of late-night
studying, all the desks are provided with sharp halogen desk-lights.
In that sense, the northern facade is turned into a vertical reading hall,
creating a living facade, communicating with the rest of the university. Distributing the reading areas up through the library, makes the
distance from the book to the reading carrels small, providing visitors to easily float out into the reading areas. Along with the different
work stations, copy-machines and scanners are provided in order to
let the patrons conduct prints and references.
The open square in the middle of the atrium the browsing area is
created by the valley, which the mountain forms. The edges of this
area run out to become a set of stairs, creating an informal hangout

82

area around the open space at the mountain base. The browsing area
also holds an info area with a counter, where librarians will stand by
providing guidance. Here quick-loans/returns are also conducted by
automated book stations. The browsing area also displays new books
within a range of low book shelves creating a homely atmosphere.
This mood is brought on in the caf area, which will provide visitors
and patrons with coffee and small snacks during the visit.
To make it easy for the user to move around and for the staff to distribute books, the four main mountains are equipped with elevators.
The elevators are placed, so that they are able to carry people all the
way to the administration, and at the same time being visual when
entering the room, making it easy for new users to navigate within
the building. Each elevator takes up to six persons at a time, allowing both visitors to move swiftly around while assisting the staff with
heavy book carts. Within the vertical cores toilets and staircases is located together with a ventilation duct, cleaning rooms and control
rooms for service and maintenance.
At the northern part of the browsing area, the lower reading area is
located. This place is seen as a more traditional open reading room,
with rows of reading tables overlooking the lake side and the AAU
canteen.
Finally, a range of electronic touchscreens are located around the
entire library providing service information. Together with these, a
number of larger screens on selected spots provide signposting for
subject browsing and activities.
The way of constructing the library with the bookshelves placed in
between the loadbearing concert frames, provide a flexible building,
with the possibility of removing the bookshelves creating the possibility of alternating the rooms according to the desired function.

Ill. 116 - Conceptual sketch of the Book Room

83

administration
The administration can be seen as a vital element within the running
of the library. Here, the large number of staff is settled in a 360 degrees panoramic view overlooking the entire university campus.
The floor is thought visually as one large open area only divided by
the skylights providing both the Book Room below but also the administration with light. The space is conducted as two intersecting
rooms only separated by a glazed fire-screen running north south
through the skylights, preventing fire from spreading. Due to the
open plan office space configuration, the full amount of staff can
be united under the same roof. The entire administration holds 60+
workstations within the room and due to the conditions of the open
room, a range of other future configurations are possible. The desks
are placed in traditional clusters of four all the way around the edge
of the floor, providing the desks with natural daylight and vista. Together with the private work stations, a range of informal areas are
distributed around providing space for different meetings and social
encounters. Furniture for resting and breaks are also placed around
the main path to create a welcoming atmosphere. At the two westfacing corners larger meeting tables are located for group meetings
and appointments.

84

Within the east-facing side four larger enclosed offices are located
providing either small quite meeting rooms or staff executive offices.
With the three large skylights located in the middle of the room, they
create a Y-shaped pathway around, separating the large open office
spaces into more intimate areas, though keeping the room visually
open. These skylights are organized by the vierendeel trusses positioned around the round cut-outs in the floor and are supplied with a
tubular glazed fire-screen in order to lead smoke past the administration and not inside in case of fire.
Three places, the peaks of the Book Mountain penetrate the floor slab
creating interesting spatial rooms within the corners. As described
in the text about the Book Room, these mountain peaks holds the
transport corridors for access to the administration. The lifts and staircases all connects to the main transport corridor between the skylights. Toilet facilities are also incorporated within the peaks providing the staff members with lavatories. In the largest of the mountain
peaks the reception area is located. Here, a service counter is located
together with a cloakroom for visitors.
As the main mountain of the reception continues up through the
roof, it makes room for a large and imposing meeting room at the
very top of the entire campus.
Finally, the main peak provides access to a minor roof terrace, suitable for outdoor reading for example receptions during the summer
periods.

Ill. 117 - Sketch of the open office space within the administration wing

85

facade
With large areas of open atrium and rooms towards the outside, the
building needs a facade skin to protect its interior. The design of this
facade was based upon an analysis of, how is should perform.
As stated in the vision it should provide a certain transparency towards the exhibited books and functions inside the Book Room. On
the other side a large amount of glazed surface would require the
need to be shielded of during the summer period in order not to create a greenhouse environment inside. As a third issue, a large glazed
facade during winter time and cold conditions is not going to provide
good insulation. This could result in the use of closed-of areas within
the skin or the use of vast expensive types of glass able to provide an
insulating effect. But as the desired effect of the facade skin was to appear as an overall glazed surface, a third approach were incorporated.
This was the incorporation of a multi-story ventilated double facade,
able to pre-heat air in winter time and to ventilate heated air off in the
summer period.
As the cavity between the two glazed walls creates an enclosed space,
the air inside is heated by the sun creating the air to rice up through
the void. In winter period the pre-heated air can be used for heating
inside the building. In summer times the heading of the air generates
a chimney effect allowing hot air from inside to be ventilated out.
The facade also offers good acoustic damping, though the northern
road of Bertil Ohlins vej only is trafficked by the pendulum driving
busses, the atmosphere inside the library would benefit from a quite
study environment. [bbri.br]
To underline the floor slabs and at the same time introduce a sun
screening function, a shading-device was incorporated in the facade.
By the use of MicroShade (tm) perforated metal foil inside the glass, a
blockage between 50 and up to 90 % of sunrays is achieved depending of the angel of the sun. This foil is perforated in an angled direction allowing low winter sun through, but preventing overheating
during summer period when the sun stands high on the Danish sky.
The sun shading is going to be located within the outer facade skin,
providing most shade before the heat rays enters. As the MicroShade
is semi-transparent, the glass will appear slightly darker than regular
glass. [microshade]
The facade should allow the three stacked functions to appear visible
divided within the skin in order to read the building and its purposes.
At the same time, each floor should also be visible in order to keep a
human scale within the 28 meter high building. In order to underline
the levels of the building, the solar screening was suggested to be

Ill. 118 - Sketch of facade 1

Ill. 119 - Sketch of facade 2

Ill. 120 - Sketch of facade 3

86

Ill. 121 -129 - Renders of different facade try-outs, resulting in the selected facade in the lower right corner

87

used, by conforming it into horizontal bands that would both emphasise the floors and create a visual slimming effect of the building.
As work with different forms of graphical usage of the sun screening
was tested, an idea of a reference to the stacking of books inside were
generated and incorporated within the facade, using rectangles of
different levels of sun screening created a mosaic pattern, which created a lively aspect to the otherwise vast surfaces of glass.
Towards the north, the glazed facade stands completely clear with no
solar screening due to its orientation; this is also done to communicate the function of the library with all the work spaces overlooking
the lake and AAU cantina.

Ill. 130 - Concept of the double-facade during summer and winter time

Ill. 131 - Concept of the double-facade during summer and winter time

88

technical considerations
Technical routes
Within the building a vast amount of technical installations has to be
planned and integrated in order to make the library function. Here
the large concrete double-frames are vital. Within the hollow concrete cores of these, electric cables are drawn in order to provide a
large amount of sockets to all the working stations around the house.
These will also provide electricity to the lightings, necessary to run
the library after dark. Internet is going to be wireless thus routers will
be installed to provide patrons and staff with fast on-line connection.
Within the vertical concrete cores of the stairs and toilets, pipes for
ventilation will be drawn. Toilets are placed on top of each other all
the way from the ground floor to the administration, in order to create a simple route for the water and waste pipes. On level number five
in the bookroom where toilets are not present in two of the mountains, water and waste pipes will be drawn in the bookshelves taking
a way a few shelve meters.
Ventilation
The library is going to make use of a combination of ventilation systems. A hybrid of natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation is
going to keep a well-defined air change in order to provide a good
indoor climate within the library. The natural ventilation is going
to function within the main book room, where the heights of the
atrium create a chimney effect. As hot polluted air raises to the upper levels of the Book Mountains, the three skylights conducts the
air out through a range of automated window panels at the roof. At
the same time the double faade contributes by ventilating out hot
air in summer time, and sucking in preheated air in winter time, also
the double-faade all-year-around provides the possibility of manual
opening and closing the inner faade, providing more self-control for
the users. In order to make a more energy efficient building the air
intake is placed in the neighboring lake, which will provide cooler air
in the summer half.
In terms of space for mechanical ventilation ducts, the vast space
above the bookshelves is thought to incorporate this. This will provide mechanical ventilation within the workspaces in the Book
Mountains. Inside the fitness center located within the first floor, the
ventilation will be separated from the rest of the library due to the
vast air-changes here. Finally the large ventilation aggregates needed
for the ventilation are divided into two aggregates located respectively in the basement and on the top of the roof slightly retracted
to visually hide it from the street view.

89

Ill. 132 - Ventilating out hot air in summer time

Ill. 133 - Illustration of preheated intake of air in winter time

structural system

initial considerations

As a way of procedure the structural design it was made clear from

the beginning, that the system should reflect a clear tectonic approach. In order to incorporate a clear structure within the project,
different considerations are highlighted. These regards:

The way loads are distributed down from the very top of the
building to the ground.
The structures are not hidden or concealed
The implementation of functions within the structure
The minimal use of redundant material

A tectonic approach would also essentially create the overall guide

lines when engaging the quite significant amount of square meters
as of this project.
This should result in a rational and well-thought-through approach
where structures are elegantly exhibited as part of the building itself
urging a refined overall finish.
This is also important in the question regarding the use of materials. Here a so-called honest approach calls for the usage of material properties in terms of what requirements suits the structural elements.
Regarding integrated design the rest of the building should be
thought-in together with the structure aiming towards a holistic and
rational approach emphasizing the overall design.

structural principals
Open shelves and structure
Beginning with the concept, the inspiration has been found when
investigating libraries from previous times, including the eras of the
Renaissance, the Baroque and the Enlightenment. Here the distinct
visual exhibition of volumes provided in the case study by for example the Trinity College Library (1732) in Dublin, Ireland was found
fascinating. The ideas of visual presentation of the volumes also triggered an idea of a direct incorporation of the books within the structural systems of this project. This should be seen as opposed to the
now days often standard way of thinking a library as a series of interconnected rooms with rows of bookshelves inside.
Ill. 134 - Trinity College Library

90

Mountain concept
As described in the design phase these conceptual ideas led to an organic landscaped library-section comprised by Book Mountains. This
library landscape-element is then placed in the middle of a vertical
stacking with an open ground floor underneath and an administration wing above.
To achieve a clear structural idea the mountains were then erected
in four places creating a stable platform supported in four places, carrying the administration. This system was selected in favor of another
one, in which a strong facade would carry the administration and the
mountains only the books and floors itself.
In order to create spaces, floors and room for books, the three-dimensional landscape was then processed by the use of the software
Rhinoceros (tm) and the parametric plug-in Grasshopper (tm). This
created a waffle-structure, instating vertical and horizontal planes
within the surface which were suitable for floor slabs and walls for
bookshelves. In tectonic terms, the vertical planes immediately would
be read as walls and frames directing loads vertically downwards
while the many planar slabs would act stabilizing by taking other directional forces. As pictured in the initial models of the building the
horizontal walls acts as disks, filling up the entire book mountains.
Together with the staff of the AUB this design though proved to be
a too static solution, urging in the removal of mass within the walls
creating open flexible floor plans within the mountains. This resulted
in the emergence of a double frame-system, keeping the outer lines
of the mountain shape while maintaining an open floor. The action
then called for an answer on how to obtain the massive forces of the
exhibited books and volumes resulting in the creation of a modular
column-grid within the library.
The grid was constructed to follow the parallel frames of the Book
Mountains which, in order to create different sized rooms, had a varying distance between each. The columns would then create a rhythm
within each floor, arranging the disposition of the detachable bookshelves.
The material chosen for the double-frame is a smooth light-grey concrete, which is well-suited for large compression forces. The concrete
was chosen in favor of large steel trusses both because of the tactile
feeling of heaviness inside the library room, but also due to the possibility of easy on-site shuttering formwork incorporating reinforcement and a hollow core for cable routes. The width of the frame has
emerged from the length of two bookshelves next to each other
reaching 600 mm. The length is set to one meter in order to underline
the direction of the frame. This creates a rather large structure, but
in terms of the large size of the entire library this ensures a certain

appearance within the room. At the same time it will eventually be

hollow corresponding to two smaller 200 x 1000 mm columns placed
together.
The columns distributed around the floors in the mountains are going to be slender concrete columns of 200 x 200 mm in order to obtain the stresses caused in the vierendeel system.

Ill. 135 - Initial model showing the frames of the Book Mountain

91

Large-spanning vierendeel-trussed administration

In terms of the structural system of the administration, several concepts have been a possibility. After the mountains were selected to
carry the administration floor two options stood out. One principal is
that the book mountain carried the administration floor which then
carried the roof on columns. The other is that the book mountain
carried the roof of the administration and that the very floor of the
administration was then suspended down from this. Both solutions
applied use of a large perpendicular-ribbed floor slab which created
a visually impressive effect due to its size and form. Eventually these
two designs resigned to a simpler layout in which the entire administration would act as one unit, performing as one large space frame
truss suitable for the vast span.
Due to the vast distance that the administration has to span, this solution also made sense due to the increased height of the structure
which would enhance the resistance torque of the structure.
In order to achieve a strong and rigid administration body, the floor
slab and the roof construction is going to be connected by a number
of trusses in order to create a stiff overall structure. This is done by the
use of triangulated trusses or a space frame construction, but in order
to avoid tilted and slanted lines the vierendeel truss is selected. This
type of truss is characterized by vertical beams with fixed joints capable of transferring and resisting bending moment. The trusses create quadratic openings allowing flexibility of fenestration and work
space. The placement of the columns makes use of the same modular
grid as applied in the library Book Mountains. The floor of the administration is thought to be a concrete ribbed floor slab with the height
of one meter in order to achieve enough stiffness to obtain the large
tensile forces and compression forces.

Public ground floor:

As the first floor contains all range of public functions the aim has
been to create an entirely open floor providing access from many
sides. The module lines from the library room are used to place columns around the area. At the boundary edges of the building the
concrete columns of the double-frames are drawn all the way down
to the ground. The roof of the ground floor separating the public
areas from the above-placed library is created in in-situ-casted concrete, creating an organically curved roof scape with a reference to
the roof in the administration.

Ill. 136 - Mountains carries the administration

Ill. 137 - Administration acting as one large beam

Ill. 138 - Traditionel beam with pin-jointed trusses

Ill. 139 - Vierendeel truss with rigid joints

92

structural analysis
This text will shortly look into the results of the FEM analysis conducted by Staad-Pro (tm) software.
The structural analysis has been conducted upon a two-dimensional
simplified section of the Book Mountains. In order to differ from the
vast amount of information provided by the program the main focus will be held on the forces, stresses and nodal displacements of
the section. In the appendix the preliminary load combinations are
showcased, revealing that the dead load itself is the most unfavorable
load, which is why the following graphic is depicting this load combination.
The loads applied were following:
Dead load =
Live load =
Wind load =
Snow load =

Ill. 140 - Illustration of the two-dimensional section

42,4 kN/m
2,5 kN/m
-1,08 kN/m (negative due to suction)
0,72 kN/m

Most unfavorable load combination: Dead load 1,2

The constraints within the two-dimensional section are all fixed supports to the ground and the jointing between slabs and frames are
also stiff in terms of moment.
In the appendix and on the enclosed CD-ROM the entire file along
with print screens, spreadsheets and reports can be found and
viewed.
Ill. 141 - Illustration of the simplified section with dimensions i meters

Ill. 142 - Illustration of axial forces (Load combination: Dead load x 1,2)

93

Remark
As the main structural system of the Book Mountains was established early within the design phase, the subsequent physical models
revealed some extraordinary strength. This consequently established
a sense that the library would possess a very rigid body, which is substantiated by the later conducted FEM analysis. First of all the focus
should be on that small nodal deformation which the FEM program
revealed.
Due to the massiveness of the concrete double-frames, the initial proportions of 1000 x 600 mm were also considered too extensive resulting in a hollow core. This reduces the material use and cost by a third,
keep the overall proportion but bring down the column proportions
into two slender 1000 x 200 mm connected columns.
After the FEM analysis was conducted the number of columns has
also been possible to increase, creating more supporting members
everywhere inside the three sections of the library.
The thicknesses of these columns were also changed to the present
200 x 200 mm concrete columns the initial ideas were columns of
tubular 150 mm steel, the squared concrete beams proved to create
a better reference to the large concrete double-frames, as were they
carved in the same concrete.
Finally the use of a thicker floor slab within the 7th floor in the book
mountain, where the administration attaches, is going to aid this floor
as the one where the immense forces are present. This is naturally
affected due to the height (1000 mm) of the administration floor slab
which, from the book mountain otherwise would have required a
small stair to reach the 600 mm difference in height.

Ill. 143 - Illustration of the beam stresses

Ill. 144 - Illustration bending Z moment

Ill. 145 - Illustration of shear Y force

94

Job No

Sheet No

Rev

Part

Software licensed to FEMD

Job Title

Ref

Client

File

By

Date12-May-11

Chd

Date/Time

16.05.2011 Egen tegning.

16-May-2011 11:44

Beam End Force Summary

The signs of the forces at end B of each beam have been reversed. For example: this means that the Min Fx entry gives the largest
tension value for an beam.
Axial
Shear
Torsion
Bending
Beam
Node
L/C
Fx
Fy
Fz
Mx
My
Mz
(kN)

(kN)

(kN)

(kNm)

(kNm)

(kNm)

Max Fx

104

2:LOAD CASE

330.239

-0.106

0.000

0.000

0.000

Min Fx

59

45

4:COMBINATIO

9.176

0.000

0.000

0.000

11.139

Max Fy

58

46

4:COMBINATIO

-84.540
13.474

151.750

0.000

0.000

0.000

127.780

-0.219

Min Fy

58

53

4:COMBINATIO

13.474

-0.000

-0.000

133.123

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-153.530
-2.852

-0.000

Max Fz

0.000

0.000

0.000

-0.001

Min Fz

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-2.852

0.000

0.000

-0.001

Max Mx

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-2.852

0.000
0.000

0.000

0.000

-0.001

Min Mx

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-2.852

0.000

0.000

-0.001

Max My

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-2.852

0.000

0.000
0.000

0.000

-0.001

Min My

1:LOAD CASE

170.333

-2.852

0.000

0.000

Max Mz

49

38

2:LOAD CASE

-2.091

50.338

0.000

0.000

0.000
0.000

167.453

Min Mz

24

4:COMBINATIO

61.765

28.201

-0.000

-0.000

-0.000

-143.009

-0.001

Ill. 149 - Illustration of the five worst node displacements

Job a
No summery of
Sheet
No
Ill. 146 - Illustratins
beam
end forcesRev
1
Part

Software licensed to FEMD

Job Title

Ref

Client

File

By

Date12-May-11

16.05.2011 Egen tegning.

Chd

Date/Time

16-May-2011 11:44

Node Displacement Summary

Node

L/C

Max X

25

4:COMBINATIO

Resultant

rX

rY

rZ

(mm)
7.732

(mm)
-0.526

(mm)
0.000

(mm)
7.750

(rad)
0.000

(rad)
0.000

(rad)
0.000

Min X

26

3:LOAD CASE

0.000

4.746

0.000

0.000

0.000

37

3:LOAD CASE

-4.723
-2.279

0.472

Max Y

0.498

0.000

2.333

0.000

0.000

-0.000

Min Y

24

2:LOAD CASE

3.665

0.000

7.121

0.000

0.000

-0.000

Max Z

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

-6.105
0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

Min Z

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

0.000

0.000
0.000

0.000

Max rX

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

Min rX

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

Max rY

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

1:LOAD CASE

0.000

0.000

0.000

Max rZ

46

4:COMBINATIO

6.271

-3.132

0.000

7.010

0.000

Sheet No
0.000
0.000

0.000

Min rY

Job No
0.000

0.000
0.000

Min rZ

53

4:COMBINATIO

6.318

-5.621

0.000

8.456

0.000

0.000

licensed4:COMBINATIO
to FEMD
Max RstSoftware26

7.635

-5.423

0.000

9.365

0.000

0.000

-0.002
0.000

Job Title

Part

0.000

Rev

0.000

0.003

Ref

Ill. 147 - Illustrates a summery of node displacements

By

Client

File

Date12-May-11

16.05.2011 Egen tegning.

Chd

Date/Time

Ill. 150 - Illustration of the support reactions

16-May-2011 11:44

Reaction Summary
Print Time/Date: 16/05/2011 Node
12:06

L/C

Horizontal Vertical Horizontal

FX
FZ
STAAD.Pro
for FY
Windows 20.07.04.12
(kN)

Max FX

(kN)

(kN)

MX

Moment
MY

MZ

(kNm)

(kNm)

(kNm)

3:LOAD CASE

29.431

11.190

0.000

0.000

0.000

Min FX

4:COMBINATIO

0.000

0.000

0.000

9.361

2:LOAD CASE

-3.316
0.106

87.115

Max FY

330.239

0.000

0.000

0.000

-0.219

Print Run 1 of 1

-122.054

Min FY

3:LOAD CASE

0.199

0.000

0.000

-0.707

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

-12.140
72.596

0.000

Max FZ

0.000

0.000

0.000

7.801

Min FZ

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

72.596

0.000

0.000

7.801

Max MX

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

72.596

0.000
0.000

0.000

0.000

7.801

Min MX

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

72.596

0.000

0.000

7.801

Max MY

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

72.596

0.000

0.000
0.000

0.000

7.801

Min MY

1:LOAD CASE

-2.763

72.596

0.000

0.000

4:COMBINATIO

-3.316

87.115

0.000

0.000

0.000
0.000

7.801

Max MZ
Min MZ

3:LOAD CASE

29.431

11.190

0.000

0.000

0.000

-122.054

9.361

Ill. 148 - Illustrates a summery of reactions

95

Print Time/Date: 16/05/2011 12:01

STAAD.Pro for Windows 20.07.04.12

Print Run 1 of 1

Ill. 151 - Illustrating beam end forces

fire verification

The fire regulation has six overall criteria that need to be fulfilled in
order to approve a building for use.
This can be done by either following the example collection of buildings ore by calculations and computer simulations in cases where
a building exceeds the example collection. Those calculations and
simulations needs to be performed by a fire technician and thereafter approved by the fire authorities. The six criterias are as follow:

General escaperoutesandrescueconditions

Constructiveconditions

Firetechnicalinstallations

Fireandsmokespreading

Fire and rescue servicesresponsepossibilities

In this project the main focus will be on escape routes and rescue
conditions, while fire technical installations and fire and smoke
spreading only briefly will be considered.
Building sections
The first thing that needs to be considered is how the building can
be divided in building sections and thereafter how each building section are going to be used; this will then decide into which application
category each section will be placed.
The building is going to be separated into three sections, the ground
floor, the Book Room and the administration.
Application categories
The application category used for the ground floor and the Book
Room, are application category 3 which stages:
Application category 3 concerns buildings sections with many people for daytime use, where the people that stay in the building section, not necessarily have knowledge about escape routes, but are
capable by own force to bring theme self to safety.
Application category 3 concerns buildings such as: Shops, commonrooms, canteens, cinemas, restaurants, banqueting room, certain
parts of schools, sports halls, churches, theaters, garage compounds,

96

meeting rooms, concerts halls, exhibitions rooms and other similar

rooms created for more than 50 persons.
The application category used for the administration is application
category 1, which stages:
Application category 1 concerns buildings sections for daytime use,
where the people that stay in the building section, have knowledge
about escape routes, and are capable by own force to bring theme
self to safety. [BR10]
Fire cells
The first step when placing the escape routes is to divide each building section into fire cells. The first floor could due to its many escape
routes, be considered as one fire cell, but here it is quite simple just to
use the existing divisions as fire cells, this would contain a fire better
and thereby minimize the damage in case of fire. The bookroom is in
terms of fire regulations a quite complex room; therefore the group
conducted an excursion to the Fire department of Aalborg, where a
meeting was held with Fire Inspector Bent Pedersen. Bent Pedersen is,
amongst others, responsible for approving buildings in Aalborg. This
is done either by the example collection or in cases where a building
does not apply within the example collection; his task is to approve
the work made by the fire technician. Due to the complex atrium of
the library, Bent Pedersen were not able to conduct a solution, but he
made clear, that it was possible to get the bookroom approved by the
fire authorizes, if a range of steps were effected. In terms of dividing
the room into fire cells, the solution proposed by him was to regard
the floors in each mountain as a fire cell, and then mount a fire protecting element in each bookshelf. The openings towards the open
atrium should be equipped with heavy sprinkling, which then would
create a wall of water, and the openings in the bookshelves should
be equipped with fire doors. These could be open and automatically
closed in the event of fire. The last building section being the administration is going to be divided into two fire cells, by fire protecting
glass which will still create the visual effect of an open floor.
Number of escape routes
Depending on the size and number of people, each fire cell can be
placed to fit within three different cases, which are decided for the
number of escape routes and rescue openings needed. The three
cases are showcased in the diagram next page.

Access to Escape routes and rescue openings

Room area

Number of persons

Number of accesses to
escape routes

Rescue opening

<150 m2

<50

Yes

>150 m2

<50

Yes

>50

Min. two independent

escape routes

No

Ill. 152 - Illustration of required escape routes of different sized rooms

First floor
The first floor is going to use the example of all three cases, depending on the function of the fire cell.
Exhibition (open area)
case three
Confrence
case one
Fitness
case three
Caf
case two
Bookshop
case two

Ill. 153 - Access to escape routes and rescue opening

for fire cells up to 150 m2 and max. 50 pers.

The Book Room

Within the main atrium is as mentioned going to consider the floors
in each mountain as fire cells. The entire bottom floor are considered
as one fire cell, and will be placed within case three, floor number two
will also fall with in case three, on floor number three the two biggest floors will be placed in case two while the two small floors will
be placed in case one, on floor number four the biggest floor will be
placed in case two while the rest will be placed under case one, the
rest of the floors will be placed within case one.
Administration
The administration will be divided into two fire cells where both fire
cells are placed within case three.

97

Ill. 154 - Access to escape routes and rescue openings for

fire cells larger than 150 m2 and max. 50 pers.

Dimensions of escape routes

The minimum width of an escape route should be 1,3 m. This is
though not always enough to ensure easy passage, therefor escape
routes from buildings sections within application category two and
three dimensioned for many people (more than 150), should have
a width of minimum 10 mm per person that uses the escape route.
The Book Room are as explained considered as being one building
section, and should therefor in theory have its escape routes dimensioned by the number of people in the entire bookroom. In this case
it would though be more realistic to dimension the escape routes in
relation to each fire cell, because each fire cell has its own entrance
to an escape route.

confusion in the evacuation and create difficult conditions for the fire
fighters. There are two forms of smoke ventilation, one is thermal ventilation which uses the heat of the smoke and the other is mechanical
ventilation. In this building a mix would properly be necessary due
to the height of the building, which would cause a cool down of the
smoke and thereby stop the thermal ventilation. The smoke ventilation will be conducted through the three holes in the ceiling and
windows in the faade.
[BR10]

Placement of escape routes

There are four escape staircases in the building, these staircases are
placed in the four biggest mountains, and three of them go all the
way up to the administration, while the last one only reaches the second floor in the bookroom. The bookroom also have the exit in the
caf area as an escape route, while the first floor uses all the existing
exits as escape routes.
Fire and smoke spreading
When fire-dimensioning a room, fire and smoke speeding are an important factor. The better the fire can be contained and the better
the smoke can be led away, the smaller the change is for a disaster
fire. There are several different measures that can be taken to help
slow down the fire. Useful fire-technical installation for this project
could be: an automatically sprinklersystem, that puts out a fire in the
beginning phase or helps to control the fire until other forms of firefighting can be set in motion. A automatically fire alarm system (ABA)
that registers a fire in the begging phase and hereafter automatically
alarms the fire department. This installation can also activate other
fire-technical installations; a fire alarm with a spoken message could
help to create a more efficient evacuation of the two public areas in
the building. Firefighting equipment (fire hoses, extinguishers etc.)
for persons without particular firefighting skills can be placed on selected spots in the building; this can help to put out fires in their early
stages. High-pressure water outtakes (riser pipes) can be placed in the
building so firefighters have easier access to water and a better mobility in the building. These installations would in combination create a
building with a high degree of fire-safety, and could thereby be applied to help get the building approved by the authorities.
Smoke ventilation is also imported both because of smokes toxic effects and its impact on the visibility in the building, which could cause

98

Ill. 155 - Access to escape routes for fire cells with more than 50 pers.

daylight verification

To test and document the light conditions in the building, the software application Autodesk Ecotect (tm) is used to simulate the natural light in the building. The analyses are performed on the ground
floor, in the bookroom and on the administration floor. These three
places are found to provide indications of the daylight quality within the library. The area of investigation has been conducted in one
meters height above the floor.
Bookroom
In the bookroom the daylight calculations are only preformed on the
browsing area and the two lowest floors; due to this being the most
challenging in terms of getting good daylight conditions. The problem area are behind the two building cores (fire escape stairs and toilets), but even here the daylight factor is 14 %. Another problem area
could be in the center of the browsing area, as this is located remote
from the facades; but here the tree big skylights in the roof helps to
bring light deep into the room, together with the height of the glazed
faade, allowing light to reach deep within the room. As an addition
the skylights also helps to get a further even light distribution, and
the daylight factor in the center of the browsing area are above 25
%. All in all the analyses shows that the Book Room have quite good
lighting conditions, with an average of 8 % and a lowest around 6 %.
Administration
The administration has as expected very good light conditions, and
with an average of 26,4 % and a lowest of 15 %. Light here should not
a problem due to the high placement and the large glazed panorama
view. This is also why the faade is provided with shading lamellas
towards the sun in order to provide shade. The holes in the roof have
the same effect as in the bookroom, and even though light is not a
problem in the administration, the holes creates a more even light
level. Finally the height of the roof construction creates shading from
direct sun rays.

99

Ground floor
The ground floor poses the greatest challenges in terms of getting
enough daylight into the room, because this room does not have the
tree holes in the ceiling, and thereby have some problems with getting daylight into the center of the room. But with an average daylight factor of 18,5 % and a lowest of 8 %, the room still have enough
daylight, but a problem with uneven light levels could acquire. The
results of the ground floor should though be seen with the fact that
the potential shading from the foliage to the east and the sloped
pavement towards the west would create extra shading towards the
ground floor causing a lower daylight factor. The daylight here is thus
thought to be supplied by electrical lightings in the public areas of
the first floor.
To conclude the light analyses, the building has a quite good overall
light performance, it provide no overall dark spots and light is always
present from at least two sides - in fact the Book Room is provided
with light from all five directions opening up for the question of overall solar shading of the entire building.

Ill. 156 - Shows the analysis grid of the Book Room used for the daylight simulation within Ecotect

100

Daylight Analysis
Daylight Factor
Analysis
Value Range: 0.00 - 40.00 %

%
%

40.0+

40.0+

36.0

36.0

32.0

32.0

28.0

28.0

24.0

24.0

20.0

20.0

16.0

16.0

12.0

12.0

8.0

8.0

4.0

4.0

0.0

ECOTECT v5

- 40.00 %

93 %
6

0.0

Average Value: 30.93 %

Visible Nodes: 7936

Ill. 157 - Shows the analysis grid of the administration used for the daylight simulation within Ecotect

101

Ill. 158 - Shows the analysis grid of the ground floor used for the daylight simulation within Ecotect

102

acoustic verification

The Book Room is chosen for the acoustical analyses, because this
room presents the greatest acoustical challenge. It has a vast atrium
and a range of open floor slabs discharges into this. At the same
time a range of different functions are going to take place within
the Book Room ranging from relaxed browsing and conversations
to meetings and studying. To accommodate these different aspects
of use the acoustical investigation will be showcased.
Room acoustic
Good room acoustic is not only about controlling the reverberation
time; to create good acoustic comfort, four parameters needs to be
for filled, the parameters is as followed:

Appropriate reverberation time

Uniform sound distribution

Appropriate low background noise

No echo or flutter-echo

The reason why the word appropriate is used is that every factor
needs to be adjusted according to the conditions. [troldtekt.dk]
Appropriate reverberation time
To find the appropriate reverberation time for a library, the national
building regulation BR08 (part 6.4) have been used. This however do
not specify the acoustic demands for a library, so instead an outset has
been taken in the acoustic demands for a classroom and a commonarea used for group work together with a conducted graph of largeroom reverberation time recommendations produced by W. Furrer.
This has led to an wish of a reverberation time approximately between 0,6 and 1,0 seconds. As an edition to this the reverberation
time should be as constant as possible, in the entire frequency spectra.
Uniform sound distribution
Uniform sound distribution is quite simple, it means the sound level
only are allowed to have small variations, this is important issues in
theaters and auditoriums, so all the spectators are able to hear. This

103

aspect is not an important issue in this building, and will therefore not
be elaborated within the project.
Background noise
Ensuring a low background noise is often one of the most important
aspects in creating good room acoustical conditions. When working
with background noise, the focus is often only on external distortion
such as traffic noise, but background noise can also be emitted from
technical installations such as projectors, computers and ventilation.
No echo and flutter-echo
Before a room can be considered as having good acoustic conditions,
echoes or flutter echoes are not allowed to appear. An echo appears
when the reverberation time in a larger room creates strong isolated
reflections. This can occur when a room has a large rigid wall in the
opposing end of a sound source. The echo appears when the time
delay is more than 50 ms equivalentto the sound having traveled
around 17 meters.
Flutter echoes are different; they appears when a room have two
large, smooth and hard wall surfaces, which are parallel to each other.
In this case a sound source will create an echo that wander back and
forth between the two walls. A little sound absorbing material on one
of the walls will efficient remove the flutter-echo.

Calculating the Book Room

The relevant parameters in this project, is reverberation time, echoes and flutter echoes. To substantiate that the library preforms well
acoustically, a mix between computer simulation, reference projects
and knowledge about acoustics have been used.
As a first step to analyze the acoustics the computer simulation software Ecotect has been used to calculate the reverberation time. The
program uses tree different formulas to calculate the reverberation
time; Sabine formula, Norris-Eyning formula and Millington-Settes
formula. These calculation methods all have their advantages and disadvantages, but together they provide a good picture of the acoustic
conditions and the reverberation time.
An important parameter when calculating the reverberation time is
the acoustical properties of the materials.
A library have the advantages of having large areas covered by books,
which on top of having a good sound absorbing, also provides an irregular surface that distributes and defuses the sound. Besides book
which covers the main part of the surfaces within room, the Book

Room consists of an acoustic tiled ceiling, wooden floors, and concrete on the edges of the double-frames, acoustical panels that cover
the edges of the floor levels and finally glazed internal facades. (The
absorption coefficient of the materials can be seen in the appendix)
When calculating the reverberation time with these materials, it
proved to be a little too high therefor the upper parts of the bookshelves are covered with acoustical panels. This increases the amount
of acoustical panels in the room by approximate 25 percent. The new
calculation then showed a quite good reverberation time.
I terms of defusing the sound, the library naturally performs quite
good, due to the many books creating an uneven surface with a random pattern this is close to the optimal surface when wanting to
defuse the sound.
The absorption coefficients of the selected materials can be found in
the appendix section in the back of the report.
On the following page the calculated times can be viewed.

Ill. 159 - Graph illustrating the three calculated reveberation times of the Book Room

104

Estimated reveberation:
Number of Points: 91024 (64 Reflections)
Effective Surface Area: 16520.695 m2
Effective Volume: 27776.143 m3
Most Suitable: Norris-Eyring (Highly absorbant)

TOTAL SABINE NOR-ER MIL-SE
FREQ.
ABSPT. RT(60) RT(60) RT(60)
-------
--------- -------
-------
-------
125Hz: 6609.565 0.68
0.53
0.77
250Hz: 8442.207 0.53
0.38
0.36
500Hz: 8591.153 0.52
0.37
0.82
1kHz:
9170.443 0.49
0.33
0.70
2kHz:
8210.927 0.54
0.39
0.23
4kHz:
8259.601 0.54
0.39
0.22

The mean times are presented underneath each column has been
summed and the average time found:
Sabin:
3,30 / 6 = 0,55 seconds
Nor-Er.: 2,39 / 6 = 0,39 seconds
Mil-Se.: 3,10 / 6 = 0,51 seconds
Summary
As the requested reverberation times are reached within the Book
Room, this text will summarize the acoustics of the house. The times
tend to be a little low in order to hover around 0,6 0,8 seconds, but
are seen very satisfying. The times should be seen as approximations,
mainly due to the simplified model geometry used in the software.
The calculation is also conducted without persons and furniture inside. As this aspect would increase the absorbing areas within the
room, the presence and noise level of many people inside the room
is presumably seen as out-leveling this. As with the function of the
library mainly orbiting around the act of serious working and studies,
this aspect is not seen as inferior to the project.
As the Ecotect uses ray-tracing software when computing the reverberation time, this also, can be seen as a simplification of the results,
due to the confined amount of computer power available. The results
show cased here are conducted by 500 rays, ejected spherically from
human height in the browsing area.
Finally it could be argued that the sabine formula together with the
two other methods, thus conducted for architectural analysis, mainly
is addressed for minor and less complex room types than with the
case of the Book Room.

105

Ill. 160 - Test illustration of the ray-traced simulation (simplified version with 100 rays )

07

PRESENTATION.

107

108

109
Ill. 161 - View inside the Book Room

Ill. 162 - Masterplan 1:1000

HC
HC

110

111

HC

HC

Book store caf

Conference

Kiosk

Closet

Description Ground floor:

Caf

Exhibition

Conference

Locker Room

Locker Room

0.00 m

Conference

Total square meters: 1411

Fitness: 130 square meters
Cafe: 105 square meters
Bookstore / cafe: 130 square meters
Conference: 245 square meters
Kiosk: 35 square meters

Fitness

Fitness Storage

-2.00 m

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Server room

Depot

Compact shelving

Equipment room

Drawing
Plan of ground floor (main floor)

Auditorium

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

S2

Ill. 163 - Plan of ground floor (main floor) 1:400

D2

112

S2

Description basement:
Total square meters: 1493
Compact shelves: 910 square meters
Fitness depot: 105 square meters
Server room: 30 square meters
Depot: 30 square meters
Equipment room: 130 square meters

S2

AAU media

Seminar

Depot

Seminar

Description Groundfloor + 0.5: Total square meters: 1432

Description mezzanine:
Auditorium 1: 175 persons
Auditorium 2: 99 persons
Cafe: 65 square meters
Fitness: 175 square meters
Bookstorage: 220 square meters
Toilets: 57 square meters
Shipping and delivery : 57 square meters

Seminar

3.30 m

0.00 m

3.30 m

Janitor

2.00 m

Shipping
Delivery

S1

Storage

Auditorium

-2.00 m

Drawing
Plan of mezzanine floor

Auditorium

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

Cafe
Kitchen

Developed by:
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

S1

Fitness

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S2

Ill. 164 - Plan of browsing area within the Book Room 1:400
N

Fitness

Seminar

Total square meters: 1411

Fitness: 115 square meters
AAU media: 60 square meters
Seminar: 195 square meters
Toilets: 35 square meters
Printing: 15 square meters

D3

113

Media area: 103 square meters

Toilets: 24 square meters
Handicap toilets: 10 square meters

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Drawing
Plan of browsing area within book room

S1

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

N
N
Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

S2

Ill. 165 - Plan of 2nd floor within the Book Room 1:400

D4

114

S2

Description:
Total square meters: 2329
Shelves meters: 2200
Number of workplaces: 91
Browsing area + cafe: 350 square meters
Book storage: 92 square meters
Student area: 250 square meters

Detail 1:100 page 130 -131

Description:

S2

Total square meters: 1372

Shelves meters: 1535
Number of workplaces: 51
Cafe: 20 persons
Video cinema: 24 persons
Student area: 60 square meters

Toilets: 24 square meters

Handicap toilets: 10 square meters

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Drawing
Plan of 2 floor in the book room

S2

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

D5

115

N
N

Ill. 166 - Plan of ground floor (mezzanine floors) 1:400

Description:

S2

Total square meters: 917

Shelves meters: 1310
Number of workplaces: 54
Toilets: 24 square meters
Handicap toilets: 10 square meters

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Drawing
Plan of 3 floor in the book room

S2

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

D6

116

Detail 1:100 page 130 -131

N
N

Ill. 167 - Plan of 3rd floor within the Book Room 1:400

Description:

S2

Total square meters: 696

Shelves meters: 525
Number of workplaces: 59
Student area: 200 square meters
Toilets: 24 square meters
Handicap toilets: 10 square meters

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Drawing
Plan of 4 floor in the book room

S2

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

D7

117

N
N

Ill. 168 - Plan of 4 th floor within the Book Room 1:400

Description:

S2

Total square meters: 527

Shelves meters: 655
Number of workplaces: 27
Student area: 35 square meters
Toilets: 12 square meters

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

S1

Drawing
Plan of 5 floor in the book room

S2

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

D8

118

N
N

Ill. 169 - Plan of 5th floor within the Book Room 1:400

Description:
Total square meters: 1939
Open office: 58 workplaces
Closed office: 3 workplaces
Relax: 370 square meters
Toilets: 35 square meters

S2

Reception

Open office

Open office

cloakroom

Office

Relax

Relax

Office

Depot

Office

FORMAT

S1

Open office

S1

Open office

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

S2

Drawing
Plan of administration

Scale
1:200

N
N

D9

119

420x297

May
2011

Ill. 170 - Plan of administration floor 1:400

Description:

FORMAT
420x297

S1

Drawing
Plan of administration (peak top)

S2

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Scale
1:200

S1

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

D10

120

S2

Total square meters: 620

Meeting room: 200 square meters
Roof terrace: 400 square meters

May
2011

Ill. 171 - Plan of administration (peak top) 1:400

Ill. 172 - View from the Book Mountains

121

Ill. 173 - S1 section 1:400

122

Ill. 174 S2 section 1:400

Description:

FORMAT
420x297

May
2011

123

Project
Aalborg University Mediatheque

Drawing
Section South - North (s2)

Developed by
Henrik Evers, Niklas Skovholm Petersen, Jakob Skov

Scale
1:200

D12

124

Ill. 175 - Northern facade elevation 1:800

Ill. 176 - East facade elevation 1:800

125

126

Ill. 177 - Southern facade elevation 1:800

Ill. 178 - Western facade elevation 1:800

127

Ill. XX - Illustration of the final Book Room

Ill. 179 - View towards the eastern facade

128

Ill. 180 - View towards the southern facade

129

Ill. 181 - Illustration of a selected detail within the Book Room 1:100

130

131

08

CONCLUSION.

133

conclusion

In this last chapter an overall conclusion will be conducted upon the

final design proposal. To do this the vision posted in the initial program will be held up against the final solutions of the design.
The vision was divided into five parts, one of the main criteria deduced
from the study of the future library, was that the library of the future
should be able to provide inspiring soundings inviting people to stay
for more than just the obligatory information gathering. This criterion
has been achieved by designing an informal library space, which provides many different opportunities for stays, both informally on the
stairs surrounding the open area and and more focused in the workplaces scattered around the library. Books have also been used as a
physical element in the room to create an atmosphere of learning
environment surrounded by the knowledge of the university. A criterion from the vision was that the building should reveal its purpose
when experienced from the outside. Here the stacking defines the
different elements in the building together with the use of books as
an element in the facade, fulfilling this requirement. The future library
should be able to cope with new technologies and develop according to the requirements of the present and the future. This design
criterion has been met by making the bookshelves removable, creating the opportunity for making more open areas, or even giving the
building a new purpose with time.
Today Aalborg university campus are a place without any significant

134

architecture, with similare looking buildings and are by todays standards quite uninspiring, therefore the area could benefit from a significant building, which stands out, and hereby generating a symbol for
the university. If the building have the ability to function as a symbol for the university are difficult to conclude upon, but the building
definitely have an easy recognizable shape that stands out from the
architecture in the surrounding area, and thereby possesses some of
the qualities needed to generate a landmark in the area. An important
aspect when designing a library is to generate well-lit spaces, here the
transparent facade together with the three skylights in the roof, generates a well and evenly lit building. One of the main absences in the
area is, in spite of many green areas on the university campus, quality
outside spaces, therefor a part of the vision was also to work with the
context and bring more interesting outside spaces to the area. This
criterion has been worked with partially by moving the building site
closer to the canteen, thereby strengthen the urban strip, and partially by creating an artificial landscape on the south side of the building
in direct contact with an outside caf area. The conclusion must be
that the building does change the overall impression of the campus
area, offering a dynamic architecture with the Book Room while at
the same time standing as a light tower overlooking the campus.

reflection

The reflection will reflect upon the design and the process as well
as outer otherwise delimited parameters such as economy and the
cooperation with the AUB.
Looking back on a project like this, it is of interest to reflect on the
process - on which part have worked well and which part could have
been done in a more efficient way. In the design phase the digital
tools have been utilized to a great extent both as digital models on
the computer screen and as raped prototyping - fastly creating physical models. The parametric design software Grasshoppers (tm) has
also been used to ease the work with the double-curved shape and
thereby making the process much more efficient than what otherwise could have been possible. All in all the use of the digital design
tools have been integrated in a very satisfying way, and have been a
helpful tool in the design phase. The development of an unconventional building with complex organic shapes, has created obstacles
along the way, where unconventional solutions sometimes had to be
thought up, this have in many ways been a contributor to the creation of interesting spaces, but have also been a time consuming process, and therefore a greater detail could probably have been reached
with a less complex building.
When reviewing the final design, an overall satisfaction are present
among the group members, but as always some details are revealed
in the end of the project, that could have been conducted in an better. The distance between the concrete dobbel-frames is one of the

135

areas that have been articulated, here the initial design proposal had
a distance ranging from 2 to 4,5 meters between each other, which
were changed in a further development in order to generate more
space for the books, hereby changing the distances to ranging between 2 to 3,2. In the final proposal the change in distance is not as
apparent as initial wanted, and seen in contrast to some of the design
difficulties this caused, keeping the same distance in between all of
them could have proven to be a better solution. The dimensions of
the concrete frames have been changes along the way according to
structural and aesthetics considerations, this is an area, where a higher degree of articulation could have been used, and in the final design proposal the dimension of the frames could have been smaller,
thereby making the concrete frames less significant in the book room.
An ever present parameter in architecture is economy. Without great
knowledge about building economy, the assessment is that this
building could become more expensive than a more conventional
building, which could become an obstacle, if the project were to be
further developed.
During the project the group have had correspondence with the
head of the university library, Niels-Henrik Gylstorff, which togheter
whith email correspondence also have resulted in three meetings,
two in the early stage and one in the last phase of the project. The
collaboration with AUB has provided the project with a high degree
of realism, and Niels-Henrike has been helpful to answer the questions that emerged along the way.

09

APPENDIX.

137

case studies
The texts below will present data about the selected libraries.

Rolex Learning Center, Lausanne,

Switzerland
Client: EPFL (Polytechnic University of Lausanne)
Architect: SANAA
Completion: 2009
Gross floor area: 20,000 m2
Office space for: 100+ staff members
Study areas for: 860 students
Printed works: 500,000
Floors: 2 (one is basement)
The Rolex Learning Center was inaugurated on May 27th 2010 and is
located within the campus of the Lausanne Federal School of Polytechnics. It is by SANAA described as a laboratory for learning, a
library and an international cultural hub for EPFL, open to both students and the public. [EPFL 2010, p. 2] It is going to integrate a whole
range of different functions which has been listed below. The idea of
the curved landscape is to provide a seamless network of services
[EPFL 2010, p. 2] including libraries and spaces to study, a restaurant
and cafs plus different social students organizations. Four large areas for studying is provided, which in total can accommodate up to
8-900 students. The workspace for staff members including library
staff is going to count more than 100 employees [Roth 2011]. The
building also incorporates a large auditorium with 600 seats, suited
for both lectures and conferences but also performances and other
events. The entire house is open to the public which also grants loans
of books to visitors not attached to the EPFL. It will contain more than
500,000 printed works, making it one of the largest scientific collections in Europe. Apart from this the multimedia library gives access to
12,000 online journals and over 20,000 e-books. The building will also
contain an advanced lending machines and systems for bibliographic search; a study center for use by postgraduate researchers provides
access to the universitys major archive and research collection, and
there are learning areas including 10 bubbles for seminars, group
work and other meetings. [EPFL 2010, p. 2]. Among these clusters of

138

bubbles, some are calm zones where others are reserved for workspace requiring complete silence. In the previous chapter the perspectives of the RFID-chip were laid down, and one of the exceptional
aspects of the Rolex Center is that the library of books and literature
already has been equipped with such chips. This makes it possible for
the students to make large and fast loans but also speeds up the
process of returning the loaned material by just placing the volumes
at an electronic shelf and then activate their student library card. As
in the previous text the idea is that As the technology progresses, it
should also be possible to locate a book on the shelves using a smartphone app. [EPFL 2010, p. 3]
The architecture
The typology of the center can be described as one large plane which
then has been lifted up in order to create a sloping landscape. The
building has only one floor which with the demarcation of the glazed
faade makes up only large room accessible from all directions. Inside the volume cuts have been made creating curved glazed interior
walls which are the only ones to create spatial zones. These patios
also draw in daylight and create small courtyards within the building. Pedestrian corridors run underneath where floor plans are at its
highest creating a second flow underneath the building. The sloping floor plan that follows parallel to the roof structure is constructed
in concrete with pre-stressed wires forming huge arches. The roof
is constructed in wood and steel and held up by a large number of
thin steel columns. In order to cope with the deformations created
by changing temperature, each window is allowed to move inside
their frame. The inside experience and movement is described by the
architects as: Inside the hills, valleys and plateaus formed by the undulation often make the edges of the building invisible, though there
are no visual barriers between one area and the next. Instead of steps
and staircases, there are gentle slopes and terraces. Clearly, but without dividing walls one area of activity gives way to another. Visitors
stroll up the gentle curves, or perhaps move around the space on one
of the specially designed horizontal lifts, elegant glass boxes, whose
engineering is adapted from everyday lift design. [EPFL 2010, p. 4]

Ill. 182 - Plan of the Rolex Learning Center by SANAA

139

Seattle Central Library, Seattle, USA

Client: The Seattle Public Library
Architect: OMA/LMN
Completion: 2004
Gross floor area: Total 38,300m2 (incl. 4,600 m2 of parking)
Printed works: 780,000 (on opening 2004)
Work space with computers: 400+
Floors: 11
The New Seattle Central Library opened in 2004. It functions as the
main library within the group of Seattle libraries and consists of five
floating platforms. These platforms is a condense of a long range
of programs that OMA has merged together representing clusters
of parking, staff, meeting, a book spiral and a main headquarter. Interstitially the negative space between these five functions is used
to accommodate four other functions; Kids area, living room, mixing
chamber and reading room. The concept was to conceive the library
as a redefinition of an institution not only devoted to books but with
an equal respect to all types of media, with that in mind, that books
still makes up the essential element around libraries. The so called
Mixing chamber is located on the third floor and is mend to be an
area where the librarians active meets the patrons and provide these
with the knowledge and tips to engage the four floor tall Book spiral
- which holds the nonfiction collection of the library. The idea of the
spiral was both to exhibit the collection but also to keep a continuous move around without splitting up the book classification system
used. The spirals 6,233 bookcases possess the capability of no less
than 1,450,000 books leaving plenty of room for the library to grow.
The Living Room is the library reading room thought to accommodate patrons by comfortable furniture and a cozy environment.
The library also incorporates a large sponsored auditorium and the
so called Mixing Chamber functions as a reception area with reference desks, providing the service of interdisciplinary staff members.
Linking together all the above mentioned functions is a large stair
and escalator arrangement reaching through the entire eleven floors.
Lately an automated book sorting and conveyance system has been
integrated together with the possibility of self-checkout and loans for
the more than 2.3 million annual visitors. [W. 4] and [OMA.eu]
The architecture
The Seattle Library is an example with a rational approach, letting the
functions of the building dominate the outer appearance completely.
The division of the functions creates interesting negative spatial constellations with large halls providing overviews inside the building

140

from different angles. These open areas is naturally created and found
all the way up the building. The typology is almost of an urban city
scape; divided into main streets, squares, high rise buildings and small
niches, and the obvious thing would be to compare this with a shopping mall typology. The functions are provided with daylight through
the skin of the building. This skin is made up by a large grid-structure
working as an enormous plate consisting of large steel trusses. Where
the daylight is not required the openings have been blinded and in
order to protect the overall building against overheating, the glazing
has been covered with a reflective folio providing view to the outside but not from outside in. The experience inside is characterized by
the Dutch origin of the architects, resulting in the use of super-sized
graphic and colorful prints on the floor between the book cases. Finally the mix between traditional library functions and the creation of
an urban event space by the strict separation of functions expands
the idea of visiting the library from purely gathering knowledge and
into a social aspect [The Architecture of Knowledge, p. 62]

Ill. 183 - Selected plan of the Seattle Public Library by Office of Metropolitan Architects (OMA)

141

Tama Art University Library, Hachioji

City, Tokyo, Japan
Client: Tama Art University
Architect: Toyo Ito & Associates
Completion: 2007
Gross floor area: 5,639 m2
Printed works: 100,000 books
Floors: 2 above ground
The Tama Art Library is located on the ground which used to house
the University cafeteria. This fact resulted in the architect trying to recapture the public area for meeting between students and supervisors, by creating a large open area in the ground floor of the building
housing a gallery. The concrete arches are used to divide the otherwise open floor plan into smaller sections for more intimate areas. The
ground floor follows the sloping ground of the outside continuing
the outdoor areas into the houses and into the reception entrance
of the library. Where first floor has a main focus on written materials,
the ground floor also incorporates an area reserved to digital Medias,
providing an area with soft furniture for computer and television usage. The open ground floor also incorporates a multi-purpose space
for gallery exhibitions which also acts as place for events and theaters
due to the installation of a big screen. [tamabi.ac.jp]
On the upper level the arrangement of the book shelves follows the
lines drawn by the characteristic arches, resulting in different and spatial interesting curving roads of book cases. As a typology the building
hovers above the sloping landscape, providing direct access from all
sides, and then gathering visitors at the reception area which acts as
a check point for the staircase to first floor. [tamabi.ac.jp] + [Dezeen.
com] + [modernhomeidea.com]

142

Ill. 184 - Tama Art University Library by Toyo Ito

TU Delft Library, Delft University of

Technology, Delft, the Netherlands
Client: ING Real Estate
Architect: Mecanoo Architects
Completion: 1998
Gross floor area: 15,000 m2
Workstations: 1000 +
Floors: 4
Being one of the largest libraries in Europe when it comes to its collection of volumes, the TU Delft has the capacity of accommodating
more than 3000 students a day. Instead of a large regular library volume the architects has incorporated a landscape element which has
been drawn up upon the building creating a large grass covered hill
for recreation. Inside the complex offers an enormous open space
centered around a reception area located in the middle. This space
both provides access to the many workstations but also act as a space
for meeting, relaxation and immersion. Seen from the old central
campus cantina building, the opening of the entrance in the middle
of the grass carpet opens up like a cave entrance. Behind the entrance
the large concrete cone - which acts as the trademark for the library
rises up, piercing the green slope. Inside the building the cone acts
as low roof for the reception area creating an intimate atmosphere.
Down through the cone, three floors of student work stations is located making use of the natural daylight drawn in around the sides of
the cone. On the opposite sides of the green sloping roof large glazed
curtain walls encloses the volume providing the workstations placed
around here with sufficient light. As with the Library of Stockholms
three secluded rows of book cases, the back wall in the TU Delft form
an demarcating end wall augmented by stairs and latters as a display
of the book collection.
[The Architecture of Knowledge, p. 38] and [mimoa.eu]
Ill. 185 - Ground plan of TU Delft by Mecanoo Architects

143

Sendai Mediatheque, Sendai, Japan

Client: Sendai City
Architect: Toyo Ito & Associates
Completion: 2001
Gross floor area: 21,682.15 m2
Floors: 6
Located in a trafficked area of the central Sendai, the Mediatheque
reveal its inside activities through the glazed transparent screen of
the faade. The floors of the six-storied building are held on place by
13 steel tube-towers. The height of the floors differs due to which
function they occupy and the simple glass faade creates a sense of
the floors hovering inside. The tubes run horizontally through the entire building functioning as both transportation with staircases and
lifts but also loadbearing construction and utility corridors. The entrance of the compound houses a large open space implementing
both a retail shop and a caf along whit the reception area. The hall
acts as a public square guiding visitor deeper into the complex. As
different functions are scattered around the open plans, each floor
has its own decoration done by different designers. The ground floor,
also housing administrative functions and staff, has been designed
by Kazuyo Sejima from Sanaa. Here the workstations of the staff have
been enrolled in semi-transparent curving walls allowing a certain
light and movement to be visual within the screen. The main library
can be found on the two upper floors providing book shelves and
internet access for the patrons. As an interesting function, two entire
floor-plans (4th and 5th) have been reserved for gallery space. The
one is created to allow for maximal movement allowing the walls and
screens to be moved where the other has a more permanent layout
allowing for larger exhibitions to be displayed.
Going to the top level, this area serves as a library for multimedia.
As with the Tama Art library, effort has been made to provide visitors with comfortable furniture, allowing them to investigate a long
range of media technologies. The 6th floor also houses a cinema for
180 persons. Just like the Seattle Library the diverse programming in
the Mediatheque creates different spatial rhythms which again due
to the many different functions and spaces both serves a knowledge
based aspect but also indeed a social aspect, which has resulting in a
large public roof terrace for resting and relaxation, open during summertime. [pushpullbar.com] and [galinsky.com]

Ill. 186 - 3rd and 4th floor within the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito

144

Ill. XX - Aalborg University campus

Stockholms Stadsbibliotek,
Stockholm, Sweden
Client: Stockholm City
Architect: Erik Gunnar Asplund
Completion: 1928
Items: 4.400.000 (2.000.000 books)
Gross floor area: 3.700 m2
Floors: 4 stories
The library of Stockholm makes up the doyen of this case study. It
has been chosen in order to provide ballast to case study due to the
neo-classicistic architecture and because it was the first public library
in Sweden to apply the principle of open shelves. This meaning, that
patrons from that on were able to choose books without the need to
ask the librarian for assistance.
The building consists of two major volumes; a squared box functioning as reading rooms and service rooms and then a large centered cylinder placed upon. This simple constellation together with the placement of the building upon a pedestal creates an impressing arrival
to the library. Around the library open squares provide recreational
areas and squares. Through a range of stairs the visitor is taken up and
into the building. Inside the reception area is located along with the
childrens department. Moving further inside the library, stairs takes
the patron up to the main hall created by the rotunda of the cylinder. Here the main collection is stored, on a range of circular secluded
book shelves. At the floor different magazines and popular-readings
is located together with service counters. Access to the surrounding
reading rooms is provided by four openings across each other. Here
book shelves are stabled in classic rows augmented by lounge furniture. Different staircases and latters provide access up and inside the
augmented shelves opening up for an adventure between small narrow outer corridors placed behind the circular shelves.
[W. 5] + [arch.kth.se]

145

10

10
14

Ill. 187 - Plan of main hall within the Stockholm Public Library by Erik Gunnar Asplund

Phillips Exeter Academy Library,

Exeter, New Hampshire, USA
Client: Philips Exeter Academy
Architect: Louis Kahn
Completion: 1971
Total floor area: 6.861 m2
Items: 160.000 books
Floors: 9
As the Library of Stockholm represents state-of-the-art-libraries from
the first part of the 20th century, the Philips Exeter Academy Library
stands as one of the classics of the post-world-war era. Being the largest secondary school library in the world, the visitor is greeted by a
circular double staircase and taken into the very central hearth of the
building. Upper floors house a student computer lab and a mediascape for digital visual Medias. At the center of the building a large
squared hall raises more than 15 meters into the air. Each wall holds a
large circular opening revealing the many floors of book shelves behind. This overview makes it clear to navigate around the building.
There are nine levels in the building and the layout is divided into
three main components; first the centralized atrium containing access staircases, reception and staff, then the collection of books which
acts as a shielding for the carrels which has been placed towards the
outer perimeter of the building. This division can also be seen in the
use of materials going from the concrete atrium to the wood cladded book shelves (construction is concrete) and finally load-bearing
red bricks creating the area for the carrels. The division in functions
going from public, to semi-public ending up at the more private carrels acts to possibilities of different stages of concentrated work and
relaxation. The placement of the 210 carrels can be found due to the
use of natural daylight provided by windows increase in size as the
levels rise. At the basement a large special facility containing microfilms and bound periodicals is located being the largest for secondary schools. Overall the Exeter holds more than 450 seats all types
comprised including a lounge area on third floor with comfortable
furniture and a fireplace.
Characteristic for the Exeter Library is that it is a school library, limiting
the functions inside as to those of service and studying. A dining hall
also designed by Kahn is placed near by the library, when refreshments are required. [Exeter.edu 1 and 2] and [W. 6]

146

Ill. 188 - 4th floor library section within the Phillips Exeter LIbrary

Multimediehuset, Aarhus, Denmark

Client: Municipality of Aarhus and Realdania
Architect: Schmidt-Hammer-Lassen Architects
Completion: Planned 2011 - 2014
Gross floor area: 30.000 m2
Floors: 4
The Multimedia has been selected as it is not even build yet, but depicts a promising level of interesting mixes between library aspects
combined with urban city-event-landscapes. The house is planned to
be the largest public library in Scandinavia and is going to represent a
new generation of modern hybrid libraries, containing multiple ways
of usage. Placed next to central Aarhus the complex is thought to revitalize the historic industrial harbor area. The main concept is a covered cityscape filled with a range of different functions. A large poly
edged roof structure is going to hover above a more pragmatic box
shape in where the library is going to be placed. Offices and administration will be located in the roof part pierced by large vegetated
openings providing daylight to the underneath library. The outside
area will incorporate different levels of recreational areas and stairs
providing access to the building. The squared box will have its faade
completely glazed in order to provide the surroundings glimpse of
what is going on inside and on the other side the curtain wall will
provide a large view over the entire city. The main library will hold
departments in different secluded levels, housing different offers of
media and culture. This will range from literature and media departments, exhibitions, and childrens departments with theaters, different events, a restaurant and a caf. Underneath the house a large
facility for parking will be placed augmented by a tram station providing instant access to other parts of the city.
[shl.dk]

Ill. 189 - Ground floors of the Multimediahouse by SHL

Ill. 190 - Administration wing of the Multimediahouse by SHL

147

room program
Floor nr.
1
Level 0
2
Level 0
3
Level 0
4
Level 0
5
Level 0
6
Level 0
7
Level 0
8
Level 0
9
Level 0
10 Level 0
11 Level 0
12 Level 0

Section
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Collections
Collections
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Application purpose
Storage
Server room & machine room
Storage
Bath & toilet
Compact shelving
Compact shelving
Compact shelving
Storage & Paper Warehouse
Washroom & material warehouse
Blackboard room
Technical room (sprinkler room)
Technical room

Net area
37
35,5
17,4
9,1
164,3
158,5
61
14,5
16,7
13,7
17,4
164,4

Direct access to
Direct from the outside
Direct from the outside

Proximity requirements
Compact shelving
Freight Elevator
Freight Elevator
Freight Elevator
Blackboard room

Daylight
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

13
14
15
16
17

Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1

Internal areas
Internal areas
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces

Building Valet
Shipment & Warehouse
Foyer
Exhibition
Video Cinema

10,3
55,8
560
59,9
58

Garage
To the out side
Foyer

Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No

18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1

Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes
Other Purposes

Canteen inc. Kitchen

Auditorium
Auditorium
Seminarroom
Seminarroom
Conference
Seminarroom
Seminarroom
Seminarroom
Conference
Seminarroom

464,7
206,9
100,6
35,5
35,5
107,2
35,8
50
49,7
107,2
49,7

To the out side

To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side
To the out side

Shipment & Warehouse

Building Valet
Foyer
Colonial Storage, dishwashing, pers,
fridge / freezer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer
Foyer

Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Ill. 191 - Room program of the Kjr & Richter proposal (next four illustrations)

148

149

Floor nr.
29 Level 1
30 Level 1
31 Level 1
32 Level 1
33 Level 1
34 Level 1
35 Level 1
36 Level 1
37 Level 1
38 Level 1
39 Level 1
40 Level 1
41 Level 1

Section
Other Purposes
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Application purpose
Conference
Compact shelving
Cleaning room
Colonial dry store
Staff
Dishwashers
Cooling freezer room
Intersect & blackboard room
Storage
Disabled Toilet
Intersect & blackboard room
Cleaning room
Toilets

Net area
107,4
248,2
11,3
8,9
7,3
11
3,6
9,3
7,8
6,6
3,9
13
89,1

Direct access to
To the out side
-

Proximity requirements
Foyer
Freight Elevator
Kitchen
Kitchen
Kitchen
Kitchen
Public spaces
-

Daylight
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

42

Level 2

Collections

Compact shelving

233,5

Freight Elevator

Yes

43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55

Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3

Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Other Purposes
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Coffee Shop
Newspapers etc.
Sluice
Open group rooms
Teaching
Teaching
Master
Student Facilities
Compact shelving
Intersect & blackboard room
Cleaning room
Disabled Toilet
Toilets

10,2
51,7
228,6
51,2
51,2
51,2
38,2
328,1
349,2
9,1
8,1
6,6
7

Roof terrace
Student Facilities
Student Facilities
Student Facilities
Student Facilities
Student Facilities
Sluice
Freight Elevator
Public spaces
-

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

150

Floor nr.
56 Level 4
57 Level 4
58 Level 4
59 Level 4
60 Level 4
61 Level 4
62 Level 4
63 Level 4
64 Level 4
65 Level 4
66 Level 4
67 Level 4
68 Level 4
69 Level 4
70 Level 4
71 Level 4

Section
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Public spaces
Public spaces
Public spaces
Other Purposes
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Application purpose
Meeting Room
Quiet rooms
Quiet rooms
Administration
Copy & little kitchen
Internal workplaces
Reading hall
Reading hall
Workplaces
Student Facilities
Lending Collection
Checkroom
Intersect & blackboard room
Cleaning room
Disabled Toilet
Toilets

Net area
19,5
13,2
13,2
283,3
21,2
56
53,9
82,8
227,1
269
140,5
7,5
9,1
8
6,6
12,4

Direct access to
-

Proximity requirements
Administration
Administration
Administration
Administration
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Public spaces
-

Daylight
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No

72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84

Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Public spaces
Public spaces
Other Purposes
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Meeting Room
Quiet rooms
Administration
Copy & little kitchen
Workplaces
Workplaces
Student Facilities
Lending Collection
Checkroom
Intersect & blackboard room
Cleaning room
Disabled Toilet
Toilets

20,9
6,5
246,3
21,2
131,4
139,1
256,2
309,4
7,5
9,1
8
6,6
12,4

Administration
Administration
Administration
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Public spaces
-

Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No

Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5
Level 5

Floor nr.
85 Level 6
86 Level 6
87 Level 6
88 Level 6
89 Level 6
90 Level 6
91 Level 6
92 Level 6
93 Level 6
94 Level 6
95 Level 6
96 Level 6
97 Level 6

151

Section
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Internal areas
Public spaces
Public spaces
Other Purposes
Collections
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas
Other areas

Application purpose
Meeting Room
Quiet rooms
Administration
Copy & little kitchen
Reading hall
Workplaces
Student Facilities
Lending Collection
Checkroom
Intersect & blackboard room
Cleaning room
Disabled Toilet
Toilets

Net area
20,9
6,5
246,3
21,2
66,8
131,4
261,8
309,4
7,5
9,1
8
6,6
12,4

Direct access to
-

Proximity requirements
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Lending Collection
Public spaces
-

Daylight
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No

structural chapter
First the different loads that the library will be exposed to are found.
These load cases represent the dead load of the structure itself, the
live load applied by persons, inventory etc. together with natural
loads such as wind and snow applying forces to the building.
Afterwards this data is implemented into a finite element program
(FEM) that is going to reveal forces and stresses within the structure.
A correct deployment of the parameters is important in order to make
the system function correct. A simplification of a vertical section of
the concrete double-frames was drawn in the Staad-Pro computational software and here the different structural parameters were
incorporated. That included the main concrete double-frames along

with concrete floor slabs and columns within the Book Mountains.
The load impact created by the administration is also found below
in the calculations and this load is then together with the rest of the
loads applied to this section of the system.
As a standard the Eurocodes are incorporated into the program, but
the main intent with the structural analysis is only to get an insight
view of the corresponding forces and stresses and will not further investigate the possibility to optimize structural elements along with
material properties.
To fulfill the technical data requirements the newest Teknisk Stbi vol.
21 along with DS-409-2006 is used for reference.
NB: Spreadsheets and graphs from the FEM can be found in large
resolution on the enclosed CD-ROM.

load cases
Determining the load cases:
Consequence class: Library = CC3 (high risk class)
Application class: 1 (indoor construction)

[Teknisk Stbi p. 162 4.2.3]

[Teknisk Stbi p. 314 7.2.2]

Load of the administration:

Live load payload Q:
Office Space payload (category B): 2,5 kN/m2 * 1m =

2,5 kN/m

[Teknisk Stbi p. 167 Tabel 4.7]

Dead Load permanent load G:

Roof terrace payload (category C5): 5,0 kN/m2 * 1m =

5,0 kN/m

[Teknisk Stbi p. 167 Tabel 4.7]

(~ 0,05 kN/m2)
(0,8 kN/m3)
(5,1 kN/m3)
(78,50 kN/m3)
(~ 25 kN/m3)

[Icopal.dk]
[Rockwool.dk]
[Teknisk Stbi p. 314 Tabel 7.1]
[Teknisk Stbi p. 227 6.1]
[Staad pro FEM program]

Density of materials in administration:

5 mm Asphalt roof cover:
500 mm insulation (rockwool):
1800 mm GL32h roof construction:
Steel column (150 mm) S355:
1000 mm reinforced concrete floor slab:
Payloads:
Asphalt roof:
0,05 m 0,05 kN/m2 1m =
Insulation: 0,5 m * 0,8 kN/m3 * 1m =

152

0,0025 kN/m
0,4 kN/m

GL construction:

1,8m 5,1kN / m3
1m =
0,4m

3,672 kN/m

Steel columns : V = r2h = * 0, 152 m * 5,0 m =

0,35325 m3
~ 78,50 kN/m3 * 0,35325 m3 = 27,73 kN pr. column
0,3 columns pr. Meters = 0,3 m * 27,73 kN =
8,319 kN/m
concrete slab: 1 m * 25 kN/m3 * 1m =

25 kN/m

Summarized dead and live load of the administration:

~ 42,4 kN/m + 2,5 kN/m = 44,9 kN/m

Variable loads:
Snow load - S:
The snow load on a roof is determined by s = iCeCtsk
Where:
i = form factor (if roof pitch angle is 0- 30, i = 0,8)
Ce = exposing factor (Ce is set to 1,0 unless other specific topography is required)
Ct = thermic factor (unless thermic transfer of roof > 1W/m2K, Ct = 1,0)
sk = Characteristic terrain value = 0,9 kN/m2

Resulting in 0,8 1,0 1,0 0,9 kN/m2 = 0,72 kN/m2
0,72 kN/m2 * 1 m =
0,72 kN/m

[Teknisk Stbi p. 168 4.6.1 (4.1)]

Wind load - W:
Terrain category: III (ex. villages, suburbs, or forest)

[Teknisk Stbi p. 169 Tabel 4.9]

Terrain factor: kr = 0,19 (z0 / z0,II)0,07

Basic wind speed vb = 24 m/s

[Teknisk Stbi p. 168 4.7.1 (4.2)]

[Teknisk stbi p. 169 fig. 4.2 ill. 1]

Building geometry: simplified as a box shape:

Height = 28 m
Length = 47 m
Width = 47 m
Maximal characteristic wind speed:
Load read off graph: qp(z) = 0,9 kN/m2 (height z = 28 m)
b = dimension across the direction of the wind

153

[Teknisk stbi p. 169 fig. 4.2 ill. 1]

Form factors for facades:

Ground plan:

Section for e < d :

d = 47m

A
Wind

b = 47 m

e
e/5

d-e

4/5 e

Section
Ill. 192 - Form diagram for wind

e = the smallest value of b or 2h (b = 47 m and 2h = 56 m)

e = 47 m
e/5 = 9,4 m
d e = 47 m 47 m = 0 m
Recommended form factors, cpe,10, for outer wind pressure on vertical walls:
h/d = 28m / 47 m = 0,595 m
For buildings where h/d 1, the correlation between the pressure on wall D and E (the resulting force D - E) can be multiplied by a correlation
factor = 0,85. Resulting in (0,8 + 0,5) 0,85 = 1,11.
Resulting in form factors, cpe,10:
Zone:
A = -1,2
B = -0,8
C = -0,5 (not relevant when d e = 0)
D = +0,8
E = -0,5

154

[Teknisk stbi p. 170 Tabel 4.10]

e/5

4/5 e
d

-1,2

-0,8

Wind

0,8

E -0,5

A
-1,2

B
-0,8

Ill. 193 - Planar diagram for wind form factors

Outer wind load we = qp cpe,10, where cpe,10 is dependent of the placement to the wind direction:
Pressure on wall D: 0,9 0,8 = 0,72 kN/m2
Suction on wall E: 0,9 (-0,5) = -0,45 kN/m2
Suction on wall A: 0,9 (-1,2) = -1,08 kN/m2
Suction on wall B: 0,9 (-0,8) = -0,72 kN/m2
Suction on wall C: 0,9 (-0,5) = -0,45 kN/m2
Load pr. Running meter:
Pressure on wall D:
Suction on wall E:
Suction on wall A:
Suction on wall B:
Suction on wall C:

155

0,72 kN/m2 1 m = 0,72 kN/m

-0,45 kN/m2 1 m = -0,45 kN/m
-1,08 kN/m2 1 m = -1,08 kN/m (largest load for use in wind load)
-0,72 kN/m2 1 m = -0,72 kN/m
-0,45 kN/m2 1 m = -0,45 kN/m

Load combinations:
Load combination 2A, dimensioning, ultimate limit state (ULS):

[DS 409-2006 p. 59 Tabel 6.6a]

2A: G, sup = 1,0 used together with variable load = 1,5 )

(2B is shown and used afterwards because the dead load is considerably larger: DS 409-2006 p. 59)
1) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 qk
2) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 qk + 1,5 0 sk
3) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 0 qk + 1,5 sk
4) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 qk + 1,5 0 wk
5) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 q qk + 1,5 wk
6) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 qk + 1,5 0 sk + 1,5 0 wk
7) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 0 qk + 1,5 sk + 1,5 0 wk
8) Sd = 1,0 gk + 1,5 0 qk + 1,5 0 sk + 1,5 wk

only live load

dominating live load + snow
dominating snowload + live load
dominating live load + wind
dominating wind + live load
dominating live load + snow + wind
dominating snow load + live load + wind
dominating wind + live load + snow

0 for Q (live load): Category B, office area: 0,6

0 for S (snow load): 0,6 w. dom. live load, by dom. wind: 0 or else 0,3.
0 for W (wind load): 0,6 w. dominating live load or else 0,3.
1) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 2,5 =
2) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 2,5 + 1,5 0,6 0,72 =
3) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 0,6 2,5 + 1,5 0,72 =

[Teknisk stbi p. 166 Tabel 4.6]

45,95 kN/m
46,598 kN/m
45,53 kN/m

The negative wind load is made positive in order to place loads in FEM: (-1,08 kN/m ~ 1,08 kN/m)
4) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 2,5 + 1,5 0,6 1,08 =
5) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 0,6 2,5 + 1,5 1,08 =

46,922 kN/m
46,07 kN/m

Dominant live load:

6) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 2,5 + 1,5 0,6 0,72 + 1,5 0,6 1,08 =

47,57 kN/m (most 2A unfavorable)

With dominant snow load:

7) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 0,6 2,5 + 1,5 0,72 + 1,5 0,3 1,08 =

46,016 kN/m

With dominant wind load:

8) Sd = 1,0 42,2 + 1,5 0,6 2,5 + 1,5 0 0,72 + 1,5 1,08 =

47,07 kN/m

Load combination 2B: is to be used because of the weight of the dead load:
(Variable loads are not to be taken in instead the dead load is multiplied by 1,2)
Sd = 1,2 gk

156

Sd = 1,2 42,2 = 50,64 kN/m= (most 2B unfavorable) = (most unfavorable overall)

Dead load of largest book mountain:
Concrete double frame construction: 1000 mm x 400 mm (2 x 200 mm): 25 kN/m (used earlier)
(Alternatively made hollow to save material and incorporate electrical cable routes)
Dead load of a floor slab in the book room: 400 mm concrete floor slab:

25 kN/m

Live load of floors in book mountain:

Together with 2,5 kN/m2 from the office space the weight of books are incorporated:
Book load estimation ~ 600 kg/m2:
~ 6,0 kN/m2 + 2,5 kN/m2 = 8,5 kN/m2
8,5 kN/m2 1m =

8,5 kN/m

Hand calculation of moment created in the vierendeel truss constructed administration box
(As a cantilever above the caf):
Md = dimensioning given moment (N mm)
RA = reaction in point A measured in N
RA = q L = 50,64 kN/m 47 m = 2380,08 kN
Md = - MA =

157

1
q L2 = 50,64 kN/m (47 m)2 = 55931,88 Nmm
2

[HFB 2:2 p. 490 no. 3]

FEM analysis on CD-ROM

All the loads and forces calculated above is then entered in the finite
element program Staad.pro, which is computational software designed for FEM calculation.
On the CD-rom a folder containing both the software file along with
diagrams of the entire analysis can be found in order to document the
process of the FEM analysis in detail:
The six steps underneath is the step-wise way that the FEM system
has been build and analyzed - the enclosed data on the CD-ROM depicts the stepwise approach.

Section of structure is drawn in 2D in the FEM program

Material properties and structural dimensions are entered

Supports are added in this case all columns reaching to the

floor are defined as fixed joints

Loads are entered dead load, live load, wind, snow and a unfavorable load combination

Loads are added on the respectful places fx live load on the

floor slabs, wind suction on the faade

Analysis is run and the data outcome printed

158

acoustic chapter

reveberation times used in analysis

Absorption coefficients
Acoustic tiled ceiling:
63 Hz
125 Hz
250 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
16000 Hz
0,06
0,20
0,75
0,74
0,70

500 Hz

1000 Hz

1,00

1,00

Wooden floor:
63 Hz
125 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
0,05
0,05
0,24
0,26

250 Hz
16000 Hz
0,07

500 Hz

1000 Hz

0,13

0,17

Concrete:
63 Hz
125 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
0,13
0,10
0,02
0,03

250 Hz
16000 Hz
0,07

500 Hz

1000 Hz

0,02

0,02

500 Hz

1000 Hz

1,00

1,00

Acoustical panels:
63 Hz
125 Hz
250 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
16000 Hz
0,06
0,20
0,75
0,74
0,70
Glass:
63 Hz
125 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
0,11
0,09
0,03
0,03

250 Hz
16000 Hz
0,05

500 Hz

1000 Hz

0,03

0,02

Bookshelves:
63 Hz
125 Hz
Hz
8000 Hz
0,60
0,70
0,60
0,50

250 Hz
16000 Hz
0,70

500 Hz

1000 Hz

0,60

0,65

2000 Hz
0,94

2000 Hz
0,18

2000 Hz
0,02

2000 Hz
0,94

2000 Hz
0,02

2000 Hz
0,55

4000
0,95

4000
0,18

4000
0,03

4000
0,95

4000
0,02

4000
0,55

Ill. XX - Absorptions coefficients for different materials

159

list of references
books

[Knudstrup, 2004] Knudstrup, Mary-Ann. 2004 Integrated Design Process in Problem-Based Learning
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)] The Architecture of Knowledge; The Library of the Future.
By Netherlands Architecture Institute 2010 by NAi publishers, Rotterdam. ISBN 978-90-5662-747
[McCabe & Kennedy, 2003] Planning for the modern public library building; McCabe and James R. Kennedy; Libraries Unlimited, A Member of
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc; ISBN: 0-313-32155-8
[Roth, 2011] Masterpieces: Library, Architecture + Design by Roth, Manuela. 1st edition 2011, Braun Publishing AG. ISBN 978-3-03768-065-0
[4D] 4dspace: Interactive Architecture (Architectural Design) [Paperback] ISBN-10: 0470090928 ISBN-13: 978-0470090923
[Teknisk Stbi] 21th edition of the Teknisk Stbi 2011, Nyt Teknisk Forlag. ISBN 978-87-571-2729-4
[HFB 2:2] Hndbog for Bygningsindustrien (Handbook for the building industry) Byggecentrum 2008 ISBN 9788791769337
[Campussti og uderum] Campussti og uderum - Aalborg Universitet - Project dossier with the future visions of AAU campus. Copy from AUB
[Projectfolder Rambll] Aalborg Universitet Nyt Universitetsbibliotek. Disposition proposal dossier from Rambll and Kjr & Richter, from AUB
[FF] Folke- og Forskningsbiblioteksstatistik 2009 (Electronic version). ISSN: 1604-9187 Elektronisk ISSN: 1604-9195 Elektronisk ISBN: 978-8792681-04-1

AUB meetings
[NHK] Niels-Henrik Gylstroff, Executive Director of AUB

internet references
[Oma.eu] http://www.oma.eu/index.php?option=com_projects&view=project&id=202&Itemid=10
[spl.org] (Seattle Public Library) http://www.spl.org/lfa/central/oma/OMAbook1299/page2.htm
[EPFL 2010] English press material .pdf from http://www.rolexlearningcenter.ch/downloads/

160

[tamabi.ac.jp] http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/english/about/library.htm
[dezeen.com ]http://www.dezeen.com/2007/09/11/tama-art-university-library-by-toyo-ito/
[modernhomeidea.com] http://www.modernhomeidea.com/modern-architecture/modern-library-tama-art-university-of-tokyo-by-toyo-ito/
[mimoa.eu] http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/Netherlands/Delft/Library%20Delft%20University%20of%20Technology
[shl.dk] http://shl.dk/dan/#/home/about-architecture/urban-mediaspace
[galinsky.com] http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/sendaimediatheque/
[pushpullbar.com] http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-365.html
[arch.kth.se] http://www.arch.kth.se/sad/publications/articles/dk_SvD_0606.pdf
[BR10] www.ebst.dk/bygningsreglementet.dk/br10_00/0/42)
[troldtekt.dk] http://www.troldtekt.dk/Erhverv/Om-akustik/God-akustik.aspx
[AUB] http://www.aub.aau.dk/ombiblioteket/afdelinger/langagervej2/
[harvard.edu] http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/budget/factbook/01-02/libraries_30a.html
[bbri.br] http://www.bbri.be/activefacades/new/download/Ventilated%20Doubles%20Facades%20-%20Classification%20&%20illustrations.
dvf2%20-%20final.pdf
[microshade] http://www.microshade.net/pages/id70.asp
[W. 1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
[W. 2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library
[W. 3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification
[W. 4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Central_Library
[W . 5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Public_Library
[W. 6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_Exeter_Academy
[Exeter.edu 1] http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4520.aspx
[Exeter.edu 2] http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4537.aspx

161

bibliography

Clear glass Creating New Perspectives. Van Uffelen, Chris. 1. Edition, Braun 2009. ISBN 978-3-03768-003-2
Mies van der Rohe Award 2009 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. ISBN 978-84-92861-01-9 D.L. B-4.186-2009
Mathiasen, Hans Friis and Reitzler, Erik. Grundtrk af BRENDE KONSTRUKTIONER i arkitekturen. Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole 1999. 2nd edition. ISBN 87-87136-27-9.
El Croquis MVRDV 1998 2002. El Croquis 2002 ISSN 0212-5683
El Croquis Sou Fujimoto 2003/2010. El Croquis 2010. ISBN 978-84-88386-61-8
Bechthold, Martin. Innovative Surface Structures Technologies and Applications. Taylor & Francis 2008. ISBN10 0-415-41966-2 (hbk)
The Function of Ornament by Moussavi F. and Kubo M. Published by Actar, Harvard University 2008. ISBN 84-96540-50-2
Hfer, Candida. Libraries Introduction by Umberto Eco. Thames & Hudson 2005. ISBN 978-0-500-54314-6
BIG Aps. Yes is more. 1st edition Bjarke Ingels Group and Danish Architecture Center 2009. ISBN 978-87-992988-0-8.
Planning library buildings and facilities: from concept to completion. By Holt, Raymond M. 1989 ISBN 0-8108-2203-2
Libraries: a briefing and design guide. Konya, Allen. 1986. ISBN 0-05139-765-4
Fremtidens universitet by SBI (Elektronisk version) 1. udgave, 1. oplag, 2003. ISBN: 87-90797-20-5

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list of illustrations
Ill. 1
Ill. 2
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http://www.aalborgkommune.dk/Om_kommunen/kort-over-kommunen/luftfotos/Documents/2010.html (composed picture)

Illustration based on Knudstrup M. 2004, Integrated Design Process in Problem Based Learning integrated design
http://map.krak.dk/ (compiled picture)
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Sketch by Kjr & Richter Architects, Presentation CD-ROM from AUB
http://www.aalborgkommune.dk/Om_kommunen/kort-over-kommunen/luftfotos/Documents/2010.html (composed picture)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdzn/4693816785/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7240095@N02/448500487/
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1399298254074447277WgXduH
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asli_aydin/5111269125/
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)]
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)]
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)]
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)]
[(Werf, 2010) (Wiel & Bey, 2010) (Dijkstra & Hilgefort, 2010)(Verschaffel, 2010)]
http://zenoapps.com/learningcenter/learning_center_2.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27JEdA5Tt5U/TVcgq26nQGI/AAAAAAAADCQ/tQj9webaL9M/s1600/multi+2.jpg
Own Photography
http://v7.cache2.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13150338.jpg?redirect_counter=2
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_QEzsgC-Zv5s/R_P5l3YSE5I/AAAAAAAAAjg/Anm9Phusykc/DSC_0471.JPG
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/3024074549_14f957df05_o.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__m-uGpg8lO8/R9wChmipVXI/AAAAAAAACZw/2Cjh2wJQupM/DSC_7232.JPG
http://www.mimoa.eu/images/18023_l.jpg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/1203497712_spl-living-room-prat.jpg
http://www.cityimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/SeattlePublicLibrary.jpg
http://v1.cache1.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/898439.jpg?redirect_counter=2
http://www.dac.dk/db/filarkiv/13484/4_ROLEX_LEARNING_CENTER_EPFL_SANAA_copy_Hisao_Suzuki_1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Stadsbiblioteket_2008e.jpg
Own photography
http://lmnarchitects.com/assets/work/seattle_public_library/images/1hi.jpg?1231746158
Own photography

Ill. 38
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Ill. 41
Ill. 42
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Phillips_Exeter_-_library_3.JPG
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/3971841248_d1f79a9fc2_o.jpg
Own illustration (Meeting with AUB)
Own illustration (Meeting with AUB)
Own photography (composed panoramic view)
Own photography (composed panoramic view)
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration (data from DMI.dk)
Own illustration (data from DMI.dk)
Own illustration (data from DMI.dk)
Own illustration (data from DMI.dk)
Own illustration (data from DMI.dk)
Own photography
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h178/wordissuperfly/Libraries%20of%20the%20world/OsterreichischeNationalbibliothek-W.
jpgv
http://www.richardalois.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/PhotoofBooksBritishMuseum.jpg
http://www.meetinireland.com/BusinessTourism/media/main_site/image_library/large/Venues/MIV_0183.
jpg?width=2600&height=1733&ext=.jpg
Own sketches
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography

Ill. 80
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165

Own photography
Own illustration
Own photography
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own photography
Own photography
Own photography
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own photography
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own illustration
Own sketch
http://musicmeetsgirl.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/book-shelves1.jpg
Own illustration
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration

Ill. 125 Own illustration

Ill. 126 Own illustration
Ill. 127 Own illustration
Ill. 128 Own illustration
Ill. 129 Own illustration
Ill. 130 Own illustration
Ill. 131 Lended by 3XN Architects
Ill. 132 Own illustration
Ill. 133 Own illustration
Ill. 134 http://www.meetinireland.com/BusinessTourism/media/main_site/image
_library/large/Venues/MIV_0183.jpg?width=2600&height=1733&ext=.jpg
Ill. 135
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166

Own photography
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Own sketch
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Spread sheet from Staad.pro
Spread sheet from Staad.pro
Spread sheet from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
Illustration from Staad.pro
www.ebst.dk/bygningsreglementet.dk/br10_00/0/42)
www.ebst.dk/bygningsreglementet.dk/br10_00/0/42)
www.ebst.dk/bygningsreglementet.dk/br10_00/0/42)
www.ebst.dk/bygningsreglementet.dk/br10_00/0/42)
Illustration from Autodesk Ecotect
Illustration from Autodesk Ecotect
Illustration from Autodesk Ecotect
Graph from Autodesk Ecotect
Picture from Autodesk Ecotect
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration
Own illustration

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Own illustration
Own illustration
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Own illustration
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Own illustration
http://shiftoperations.net/thesis/wp-content/uploads/SANAA-Rolex-Plans.jpeg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2018109532_level-03-plan.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2914277387_b5de7dc1a2_o.gif
http://www.lib.tudelft.nl/consumption/groups/btudwebsite/documents/image/384827.jpg
http://openbuildings.com/buildings/sendai-mediatheque-profile-2580/media
Document on Stockholm Public library (Competition poster for new wing by Delphinum Architects (pdf.))
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1276055681-exeter-segunda-planta.jpg
http://plusmood.com/2009/09/urban-mediaspace-schmidt-hammer-lassen-architect/
http://plusmood.com/2009/09/urban-mediaspace-schmidt-hammer-lassen-architect/
Spread sheet translated from Kjr & Richter Architects (CD-ROM from AUB)
Own illustration based on 4.7.2 Formfaktorer p facader p. 170 [Teknisk stbi]
Own illustration based on 4.7.2 Formfaktorer p facader p. 170 [Teknisk stbi]

ARKITEKTUR & DESIGN