Baiona Public Library
Baiona Public Library
Murado & Elvira, Architecture And Design
ARCHITECTS
Murado & Elvira, Architecture And Design
PHOTOS
Imagen Subliminal (4)
BUDGET
$1m - 5m
AREA
10,000 Sqft - 25,000 Sqft
YEAR
2017
LOCATION
Pontevedra, GA, Spain
TYPE
Educational › Library
The new Public Library and Historic Archive is located at the former Sancti Spiritus Hospital. The existing structure was built in the XVI century behind the ex-collegiate church of Santa María.
It is a two-level building embedded in the sloped historic city center with a garden and an inner courtyard. The intervention aims to implement a contemporary library and archive in the old structure in a straightforward and easy way.
In the ground floor a large hallway is opened. Like an indoors street, it links the main entrance with the patio and garden.
The multipurpose room and the children’s library extend freely to the courtyard. The perimeter of this room is defined by a sequence of curves in different apertures.
This geometry takes advantage of the original space’s irregular shape and gives it a new playful identity.
The curved wooden walls integrates the shelving and some openings to hidden spaces behind, such as a wardrobe and a puppet theatre.
The first floor is also organized in a way that stresses the importance of the courtyard. All the space is opened around this epicenter, so that the main reading room runs without interruptions.
A double maple wooden skin envelops this space completely, opening a concentric functional band composed by a series of interstitial rooms: individual studies, bathrooms, offices and bench reading rooms.
