The library’s structure also makes room to read.
The same timber ribs help hold up a library, carry its services and shape places to read.
NO NorwayIn practice. A completed Norwegian library by Helen & Hard, recognised by Norway’s building-quality authority in 2012.
What to keep in view
The 2012 award is not the 2011 opening. Integrated timber ribs do not establish measured learning outcomes, energy savings or cheaper construction.
One element, several responsibilities
Helen & Hard’s completed library integrates structure, technical services, shelving and reading spaces into timber ribs. Norway’s building-quality authority documented the project in its 2012 architecture award.
From separate structural, service and furniture layers to timber ribs organising several roles.
Make the building easy to inhabit
Our reading: Vennesla’s ribs do more than hold the building up. Structure, services, shelves and reading places share a visible organising element. Helen & Hard turn a technical necessity into a way of understanding and inhabiting the library. The useful inquiry is which roles can be combined coherently, while preserving maintenance and comfort. The building demonstrates that arrangement without proving better learning or lower cost.
Map structure, storage, seating, acoustics and services before deciding which can share one buildable element.
Read next.
Borrow a little possibility.
Two libraries make more of their public role through space. Compare an integrated timber interior with a broader civic programme.
A laboratory building designed for disassembly.
Both coordinate building systems early. Vennesla combines roles in timber ribs; Matrix ONE emphasises components that can later separate.