Gwangju Municipal Library

Reading between the Weave

In terms of architectural typology, the spatial organization of traditional libraries was to create a sacred space for knowledge as a representation of the will of an epoch. Stockholm Public Library(1918-1928) designed by Gunnar Asplund represents the notion of centripetal bookscape, epitomized in its cylindrical bookshelves, which is inherited from the neoclassical era. The nine-square composition of Stuttgart City Library(1999-2011) is another modernized version of the neoclassical bookscape such as Étienne-Louis Boullée’s Bibliothèque du Roi (1785). The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (1989-2001), designed by Snøhetta, whereas breaks away from the old convention of centralized bookscape by abandoning the image of knowledge while introducing the image of communication flowing through the space. Jussieu Library(1992) of OMA, by manipulating the floor planes, epitomized Corbusian architectural promenade while maintaining the Cartesian grid structural system. Sendai Mediatheque(1995-2001) was a conceptual adventure to break away from the Cartesian grid and traditional part-to-whole relationship of structure, circulation, and plenum space. While Sendai Mediatheque successfully advanced Kahn’s notion of servant-served space, heterogeneous composition of servant space itself did not generate a continuously flowing space of 20th century’s avant-garde nor did it inherit the articulated bookscape of the old predecessors. This project, as a dialectic reasoning, reconfigures the canonical libraries of modern history revalidating the notion of servant-served space, architectural promenade, and bookscape representation.

Type : Competition
Location : Gwangju-Si
Site Area : 1,438m2
Gross Floor Area : 627 m2
Year Project : 2019.12