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International open competition
Library for 3,600 users and 2 million volumes
Won Second Place

We were awarded joint second place in the competition for a new public library in Guadalajara, Mexico, and were shortlisted from 262 entries submitted by 46 countries. The Jury was composed of experts and distinguished architects, including Bill Lacy, executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and Robert Campbell, a Pulitzer Prize winner, among others. First View: The Library will become the link between Mexico’s Bajio’s old culture and the globalized culture of the world.

A book is a tool for thinking, a bridge to knowledge, and a vehicle for human achievement. We envision a library as a filter. We want all visitors to the Centro Cultural to be unavoidably dragged to our open court. Therefore, the new building must become a point of reference. Its architecture will be responsible for attracting first-time visitors to a welcoming, fun, lively atmosphere. A library, then, should not be understood only as a gigantic book container or a place to be bored. We propose instead an adventurous spatial array that symbolically opens its doors towards the park. From the central court, a monumental scale urban atrium that serves also as a gate to the complex, the visitor faces the “reading boxes and terraces. This is not what is called an “architectural gesture,” in other words, it is not gratuitous. Having a partially covered plaza allows us to shade all reading spaces without sacrificing the beautiful vistas to the trees’ foliage. Climate control was carefully considered to maximize shaded surfaces.

Credits:
Design Architect: Paul Cremoux W. & Victor Marquez.
Project Team: Patricia Orozco, Ángeles Miranda, María Sánchez.
Client: Central Cultural Universitario Trust.
Location:
Guadalajara, Mexico.