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Architects: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
- Area: 865 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Bas Princen
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Manufacturers: Sto, AGC, Deltalight, James Jones & Sons Limited, Ludvig Svensson, SAPA building systems, STABALUX, Siniat, Steico, TKE, VMZINC
Text description provided by the architects. The new library for the municipality of Sint-Martens-Latem is first of all a central gathering point. In the tradition of the cultural centre, the library is set up as a large living space, shared by the residents of the municipality.
A saddle-shaped roof is delimited by a circular perimeter. The perimeter cuts the roof shape into a distinctive figure in the centre of the municipality, as an anchor point, as the first element of a cluster of public buildings – buildings in the village centre, along the road and the new municipal settlement. The rounded plastered perimeter makes the main space of the library building.
The wooden library cabinets inside are built alongside and also carry the roof. The cabinet wall defines the separation line between library spaces and the municipality. In the round perimeter, a square figure makes both the reading garden and the polyvalent hall. The reading garden is the centre of the library and is the ‘largest room in the largest house’ of the municipality.
