Projects

DESIGN DESCRIPTION

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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 a number of experts and distinguished architects, including Bill Lacy, executive director of the Pritzker Award, and Robert Campbell, a Pulitzer Prize winner, among other international library experts. 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.