Ceuta Public Library
Spain CCC ES
paredespedrosa
2013
Type
Parking
Tags
cultural facilities, traces from the past, Spain ccc
Visitability
Allowed
Description
Ceuta stands between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, in the far north of Africa. The Library's architecture was born with the aim of offering one single reading of so many diverging principles such as the complexity of the place, which incorporates a fragment of the 14th century Meriní city into its interior space as one more piece of the Library, the density city, different urban geometries and different levels in a steep topography. The project offers an image of unification for different times and different uses living side by side: reading and the presentation of the remains of the past. The library is organized in terraces placed on the slope that embrace the remains of the past. The lecture rooms are stacked in several levels overlooking the void where groups of hanging triangular lamps with peaks in both geometries are set over the archaeological centre. The compact folded volume is wrapped up in a light metal skin that reduces glare and solar gain and maximises the use of natural daylight helping to illuminate the depth of the space. The final façade includes different layers: an interior glass one and an outer aluminium-perforated one, as a veil, that interplay with the changing light conditions protecting the inside from the sun and heat. Slight variations in the make-up of the panels, for different orientations, provide the Library with a differentiated yet uniform skin, emphasizing the faceted shape of the building. A concrete plied basement runs along the steep streets and several concrete structural voids are cut up in the double façade as viewpoints giving continuity to an exterior of different things and to different times. (Description provided by paredespedrosa)