Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects

Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Image 2 of 35Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Table, Windows, ChairBibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Waterfront, FacadeBibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - ChairBibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - More Images+ 30

  • Architects: OMA + Barcode Architects
  • Partner: Rem Koolhaas
  • Competition Project Manager Client: Barcode Architects: Dirk Peters
  • Competition Associate In Charge: Clément Blanchet
  • Competition Team: Cristina Ampatzidou, Joshua Boyd, Nils Christa, Marc Dahmen, Guillaume Durand, Alice Grégoire, Simon de Jong, Anthony Joyeux, Noémie Laviolle, Clément Périssé, Jos Reinders
  • Aps & Apd Project Manager: Dirk Peters (Barcode Architects), Francisco Martinez (APS & APD)
  • Aps & Apd Associate In Charge: Clément Blanchet
  • Aps & Apd Team: Marek Chytil, Paul Cournet, Lionel Debs, Javier Guijarro, Didzis Jaunzems, Sangwoo Kim, Pierre Jean Le Maitre, Filippo Nanni, Clement Perisse, Maria Aller Rey, Mariano Sagasta, Giulia Scotto
  • Pro & Dce Associate In Charge: Clément Blanchet
  • Pro & Dce Project Leader: Francisco Martinez
  • Pro & Dce Team: Merve Anil, Alicia Casals, Helena Hiriart, Phil Handley, Sangwoo Kim, Byungchan Kim, Pierre Jean Le Maitre, Maria Aller Rey, Mariano Sagasta, Giulia Scotto, Sara Sun
  • Construction Partner: Chris van Duijn
  • Construction Manager: Francois Riollot
  • Construction Project Leader: Francisco Martinez
  • Construction Team: Maria Aller Rey, Julien Miguel, Phelan Heinsohn, Jerome Picard, Jeanne Le Lièvre
  • Architecture Collaborators : Barcode Architects, Clement Blanchet Architecture
  • Engineering: Iosis / Egis Batiments
  • Sustainability & Facade: Elioth
  • Acoustic: RHDHV
  • Scenography: Ducks sceno
  • Renderings / Moving Images: ArtefactoryLab
  • Façade: Robert-Jan van Santen / VS-a group
  • Curtains: Inside Outside
  • Country: France
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Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Cityscape
© Philippe Ruault
Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Image 20 of 35
Level 00

Text description provided by the architects. Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville is a public library for the metropolitan region Caen la Mer in Normandy, France. The 12,000 m2 multimedia library is located at the tip of the peninsula that extends out from the city of Caen to the English Channel. Its key position – between the city’s historic core and an area of Caen that is being developed – supports the city’s ambition for the library to become a new civic center. The library’s glass facade visually connects the adjacent park, pedestrian pathway and waterfront plaza to the interior and together with two large ground floor entrances at both sides of the building, enables a fluid interaction of the library with its surroundings. On the upper floors, the urban belvedere provides unobstructed views in all four directions.

Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Chair
Courtesy of Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

The building’s cross-shaped design responds to the urban context, with each of the four protruding planes of the cross pointing to a landmark point in Caen: to the historical sites of the Abbaye-aux-Dames in the north and the Abbaye- aux-Hommes in the west, to the central train station in the south, and to the area of new construction in the east. At the same time, the geometry of two intersecting axes is informed by the library’s programmatic logic. The four planes, each housing a pedagogic discipline -- human sciences, science and technology, literature, and the arts -- meet in a large reading room on the first floor, to encourage maximum flow between the departments. This main library space is carved out of the center of the solid cross, defining the building’s design as an opposition between mass and void.

Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Table, Windows, Chair
Courtesy of Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Image 25 of 35
Longitudinal Sections

As a civic center where people meet and share knowledge and information, public space is at the core of the library’s design. At the entrance level on the ground floor, there is a large open space with a press kiosk and access points to an auditorium with 150 seats, an exhibition space and a restaurant with an outdoor terrace on the waterfront. The first floor contains a large variety of work and reading spaces and 120,000 documents, with physical and digital books placed side-by-side in the bookshelves. The digital extension of the physical collections, integrated within the bookshelves, is one of the new multimedia features of the library. The top floor of the library is occupied by a space for children, as well as offices and logistics. The archive and special historical collections are stored in safe and dry conditions in the concrete basement, protected from the surrounding water by an innovative waterproof membrane applied on the inner side of the concrete walls. 

Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects - Waterfront, Facade
Courtesy of Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

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Project location

Address:Normandy, France

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville / OMA + Barcode Architects" 18 Jan 2017. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/803673/library-of-caen-oma> ISSN 0719-8884

Courtesy of Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

OMA + Barcode Architects 联手打造法国诺曼底最大社区图书馆

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