The New Munster City Library

Lauren Radetic 12/6/04 Case Studies “The New Munster City Library and its Urban Implications”

Throughout history, society has worked to serve the needs of its habitat, most recently, its urban habitat. The process of molding the environment to suit social desires has taught several lessons, including the importance of public space, equal access to knowledge, and retaining a cultural identity. These lessons have affected the development of architecture and have resulted in new building types. One such building is the library which serves as a synthesis of public space and information. In 1985, the German city of Munster felt the need for a new library, as part of an ongoing effort to improve the urban fabric of the city. Many architects entered the design contest for the new Munster City Library, and in 1987, the team of Bolles and Wilson were announced the winner. The Bolles-Wilson design elegantly addresses the programmatic concerns and urban implications of the project. The new City Library is a model for both the future of accessing information and attention to a building’s urban context. The library sits east of the culturally significant Lamberti Church in Munster. The building is split into two masses with a pedestrian walkway between, on axis with the Church. One portion of the library is referred to as a slab and houses the innovative “supermarket of information”1. This ‘supermarket’ attends to the changing sources of information resulting from the development of electronic media. Aside from housing the metaphorical supermarket, the slab also contains the dominate public spaces of the library. One enters the slab and finds himself in a large foyer which contains the circulation desk. The café lies to the left with the newspaper reading room located behind it. These are the most public interior spaces of the library and are thus open later than the rest of the building. The basement of the slab contains the children’s library and access to the other portion of the building, the ship. The ship defines the edge of the site with a large, almost uninterrupted curved wall. This part of the building contains the essence of the library, the books. One is intended to enter the ship through the second-story bridge between the two masses. Once in the ship, one can wander through the stacks of books and find various intimate reading niches. Bolles-Wilson took great care in designing the atmosphere of these niches. “But the realm of the book stacks remains a space ‘without qualities’, of less importance than the small spaces where individual encounters between reader and book take place.”2 Circulation within both portions of the building is located on either side of the pedestrian walkway. These areas of movement are separated from the walkway by copper walls which define both the interior and exterior character

1 of the library. By separating the library into two portions, Bolles-Wilson have addressed several issues. The architects create a quiet area removed from the city where one can personally experience the books. With the slab, they have suggested a new way for the public to access new forms of information. The library as a whole improves the urban context of the site and works with Munster’s historic landscape. Munster has a rather unique urban fabric which has morphed with each historical period of the city. “Munster comprises many different cities, each one superimposed on top of the other; at times the presences and traces of these cities cancel out each other, other times they become a distant memory only barely discernable, others still are only remembered in the pages of history books.”3 The overall urban design of the city is organized by concentric circles. Until the bombing of World War II, these circles created a pattern of buildings and spaces. Most of the city was destroyed during the Second World War, and since then an effort to rebuild the city has ensued. Some of the historic buildings were fully restored while others were left in ruins. This resulted in the layering of city. When one looks at plans of the city as it has changed over time, it becomes evident that the original layout of the city still exists underneath its new, denser appearance.4 At the center of the complex urban fabric lies the Lamberti Church. The cages in which Anabaptist revolutionaries were punished still hang from the Church as a symbol of Catholic dominance in the city.5 This makes the Lamberti Church a powerful cultural symbol for Munster. The site for the Munster City Library is located in a bombed out space near the Lamberti Church. This block was left vacant after the Second World War until the library competition. It is a kite shaped block bound by streets on all four sides. The northern façade of the library completes an urban block. This creates an enclosed courtyard between the library and older buildings. The courtyard allows for a seemingly enclosed outdoor amphitheater. The southern façade, the curved portion of the ship, completes the street pattern. The pedestrian walkway splits the site into two and allows for pedestrians to move “through” the center of the building. The Lamberti Church is a major focal point of the outdoor space of the library because it lies directly west of the walkway. The unterminated axis between the walkway and Church is similar to those considered in the original layout of Munster. “The original sequence of exterior public spaces is extended as the new public space of the library connects to the original centre of the Domiatz and the Prinzipalmarkt [which includes the Church].”6 The library not only fits into its urban fabric, but it adds to the complexity of the historical layering of Munster. The accompanying drawing represents some of the layers employed in the pedestrian walkway. The most distant layer is a direct historical monument for Munster. The Lamberti Church acts as the visual focus of the walkway. “In a world of rapid change, visual and tangible evidence of the past is valued for the sense of place and continuity it conveys. Particular value is

2 placed on the sense of place and the relative permanence of its character and identity.”7 The Church grounds the walkway and library within the urban fabric of the city. It stands as a reminder of the history of Munster. Following the historical layer of the Church is the layer of movement in and around the library. The building sits within the already existing streets of the city. Rather than impeding traffic for pedestrians or cars, it works with the existing circulation system and adds to the possibilities for pedestrian space. “For pedestrians, the connection between ‘places’ is important and successful public spaces are generally integrated within local movement systems.”8 The pedestrian walkway is basically a void between the two forms of the library. “This space is, in the overall composition, the centre of the library complex, but it is a centre that remains outside the library, a place of movement towards the exterior space.”9 The pedestrian walkway leads one between the buildings and onto the roads which both visually and physically lead to the Lamberti Church. “Not only could various built forms and unbuilt spaces be modulated, but their interfaces could be exalted to passageways in a community.”10 Bolles and Wilson took the surrounding community into consideration when designing the walkway. They used the building to define a prominent outdoor space in the center of the city. The movement within the library lies along the walkway beneath the copper walls as seen in a section of the library.11 It is an internal connection to the external movement of the city. The third layer is the copper walls which shape the pedestrian walkway. When one is on the inside of the library, these copper walls act both as wall and roof to enclose the space. They create a dynamic interior space where roof and wall become ambiguous. Various instances where holes are punched into the walls allow library patrons a quick glimpse of the movement outside. On the other hand, when one views the walls from the walkway, they seem to symbolize the separation of the building. “The Buchereigasse would then appear as an interior space transformed into an exterior one by the drifting apart of the two major components of the programme.”12 The walls are like a scab that has grown over the wound resulting from the gash in the building. Also, the material which Bolles-Wilson chose for the walls adds to the visual connection with the surrounding area. The slanted copper walls resemble the slanted red roofs common in Munster. The connection between the copper and the roofs helps the modern building take its place amidst the older buildings. It does not present itself as a reaction to the surrounding architecture, but as an interpretation of it. The final layer is a representation of the site and building as a whole. The mass of the building completes the other layers without overpowering them. In an aerial view of the library, one can see the church in the foreground with the other layers behind.13 “Part of the pleasures and difficulties we experience with the built environment can be explained by our ease or difficulty

3 in mentally grouping different elements from the visual field into synoptic units.”14 As seen in the perspective drawing, the Church still stands as a major focal point between the two portions of the City Library. It is closely associated with the surrounding network of circulation. The library acts as a carefully designed addition to this network. These relations group the layers into the visual field of the library. The pedestrian walkway is treated more like a part of the city than as a part of the library. Aside from the few windows in the copper walls, the walkway is cut off from the interior of the library. There is no way for one to enter into the library from the walkway or, conversely, to enter the walkway from the library. Bolles and Wilson therefore did not intend for the walkway to be for library use only. It is singled out of the program as a continuation of the urban fabric. The only moment in which an interior part of the library feels like a part of the walkway is on the bridge that hovers above the walkway. Here, one can see the Lamberti Church through the window and is again visually connected with the city and the view he experienced while on the walkway. “This view of the outside world occurs just as one is about to enter the internalized, arcane world of books.”15 The ship consequently acts as another layer to the urban context of the library. It represents the private space in this public realm. The intimate space is where one prefers to be alone completely separated from the outside world. If one views the walkway as a public area in the city, and the ship as a private area, then the slab acts as the layer which mediates between the two types of urban space. “The lobby space is, in plan, a continuation of the public room parallel to the Buchereigasse…. This gesture further reinforces the nature of the foyer as a space of transition, still part of the exterior experience.”16 Once again, it is evident that Bolles and Wilson are using these different layers to effectively ground the library in its urban context. The public nature of the library also speaks to the urban environment in which it resides. Historically, a library is a place where all people are welcome to the knowledge within. The Munster City Library is particularly receptive to the needs of an information seeking society. Bolles and Wilson use the library as an opportunity to explore the way in which one accesses information. “As the nature of information becomes increasingly invisible (electronic technology), so the mode of access and its station (library) must develop new forms.”17 They work to improve upon the common system in order to account for today’s constantly changing forms of media. This improvement makes it easier for any person to use the library, and consequently makes the library more inviting. Peter Wilson wrote of the library after it was built, “It is a public building in the original sense, that is a building that is open and free to be used by anyone. In the Newspaper Salon one sees every day sitting side by side the university professor, the tramp, the grandmother and the guest worker.” Because it is open for the use of all people, the library

4 complements its urban surroundings. It welcomes all people in the area and provides a valuable service to the city. The new Munster City Library is successful at addressing the needs of an ever-changing urban context. During the 1980’s, the need for a library became apparent in Munster. It is notable that a modern building could fill this need in an elegant, yet practical manner. Bolles and Wilson weave this building into the fabric of the city through the use of the pedestrian walkway and thus make a strong urban statement. The library can work with the city rather than interrupt its general pattern. The layers employed by the building including the distant Lamberti Church and the private zone of the ship bring the city closer and improve the experience of the public space. The library is not only innovative in its treatment of the city and the access of information, but it is also thriving with the population of Munster. Peter Wilson once wrote, “Architecture finds its origin in the realm of ideas and its validity in the realm of use.” In view of how many people use it, the library affirms Wilson’s belief. “An average of 2,500 visitors use Munster City Library daily. This represents a 50 per cent user increase for the new library compared with figures for the previous building.”18 The massive response to this library establishes it as an architectural achievement. Aside from being a place that houses books, the library’s attention to its surroundings allows it to be a positive place for people as well.

5 1 Francisco Sanin. Munster City Library – Architeckturburo Bolles-Wilson + Partner. (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1994). 10. 2 Sanin. 20. 3 Sanin. 5.

5 6 Sanin. 9. 7 Mathew Carmona, et al. Public Places – Urban Spaces. (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2003). 199. 8 Carmona. 169. 9 Sanin. 11. 10 Eduardo E. Lozano. Community Design and the Culture of Cites. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). 44.

11 12 Sanin. 14. 13 14 Carmona. 131. 15 Sanin. 19. 16 Sanin. 16. 17 Yukio Futagawa. “Bolles-Wilson: New City Library, Munster”. GA Document. (40, 1994). 84. 18 Sanin. 21.