COTTBUS
KALEIDOSCOPE
This library enlivens both the campus and civic realm of
a former industrial centre striving to reinvent itself.
Cottbus, a banal industrial
city near the Polish border, is
worth a fast hours drive on the
autobahn from Berlin for its
quirky Jugendstil theatre, and as
an incentive to continue on to
Wroclaw (the former Breslau),
a repository of classic modern
buildings. Head south, and you
can stay overnight at Lobau in
Hans Scharouns 1933 Haus
Schminke. Herzog & de Meurons
new university library deserves
its place in this pantheon, as
an example of how the Swiss
partnership fuse rigorous analysis
with poetic beauty.
1
The sinuous volume of
the library is wrapped
in a double layer of
glass silk screened
with letters that form
a visual babble.
2
Like a monumental
Aalto vase, the library
commands its campus
site, formerly a
university sports field.
3
Main entrance and
detail of shimmering,
alphabetic cladding.
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cross section
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
4
Entrance hall and
main reception. Pink
predominates.
5
Typical doubleheight reading area,
penetrated by the pink
and green corkscrew
staircase.
6
Coruscating hues
animate the interior.
7
The vortex becomes a
place of interaction.
Architect
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel
Photographs
Monika Nikolic
main entrance
entrance hall
caf
reading rooms
book stacks
ofces
study carrels
void
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8
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2
location plan
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4
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first floor
second floor
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