Category: Institutions
Region: Mexico
Year: 1994
Location: MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO
FT2 Construction: 0 sq ft
FT2 Ground: 0 sq ft
Involved Areas: Architecture, Interior Design
Collaborators:
LEGORRETA®
Ricardo Legorreta
Víctor Legorreta
Noé Castro
Héctor Cavazos
Associate Architects:
Chávez & Vigil Arquitectos (Arquitectura y Diseño de Interiores)
Consultants:
STRUCTURAL DESIGN: DYS S.C.
MECHANICAL DESIGN: TECNO PROYECTOS S.C.
LIGHTING DESIGN: LEGORRETA®, STARCO
PROJECT COORDINATION: CB CONSULTORES ASOCIADOS S.A DE C.V.
Photographer:
Lourdes Legorreta
Uniquely located and shaped to respond to the Niños Heroes Park, the library of Monterrey sits between a velodrome and an existing lake. Conceived to meet two functions: one as the main information center for the University Libraries System, and the other as a link via satellite with other educational institutions all over the world. The library has a capacity to house 500,000 volumes in an area of 200,000 square feet distributed in 8 levels. The library zone is composed basically of two geometric bodies; a concrete cube is surrounded by a brick cylinder which extremes end in two descending triangles, one of which introduces itself into the lake, thus integrating the building to the site. The result is a sculptural form within the park. Both bodies house the two basic functions of the library. The reading areas are located inside the cylinder and have visual contact with the park, while the books are housed inside the cube which was designed in quarter levels. This solution divides the floor plan in 4 platforms with three feet difference in level between each one, creating a more fluid space in spiral form that allows the flexibility required in the arrangement of the books. Both volumes are surrounded by a two-story base which contains the administrative areas, the Library of Political Issues and the Auditorium. The base continues to Universidad Avenue with a portico that travels through the exhibition galleries and serves to give a more human scale to the building in contact with the user of the park.
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