18 NEWS NETHERLANDS
Former Tilburg train shed is transformed into public library
A former locomotive shed has undergone an “intensive redesign” to become what the architects call the “beating heart’ of Tilburg’s newly modernised station district.” Designed by Civic Architects, working in “close collaboration” with Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau and Inside Outside/Petra Blaisse, the new public library was opened in January and has been transformed into a public meeting place which retains a “distinct railway theme.” The building’s rugged steel structure “provides the perfect backdrop for all manner of events and exhibitions,” commented Civic Architects. Much of the elegant industrial building has been conserved. With the addition of “robust” new architecture and huge textile screens, it has been transformed to showcase the new concept of public sector client Midden Brabant Libraries.
The building has a footprint of 90 x 60 metres and a height of 15 metres, and is “both imposing and inviting.” It was “deliberately designed to be an extremely accessible building.” The entrance hall takes the form of a covered city square with large public reading tables (doubling as podia), an exhibition area and a coffee kiosk. This square “folds up into broad steps, which can be used as event seating for over a thousand spectators,” said the architects. These lead into the main building, which has huge glass facades, allowing plentiful daylight in. On the second floor, the gallery and stairways “allow closer inspection of the historic glass walls;” on the level above is a large balcony offering panoramic views of the city.
A library for the 21st century The LocHal “has redefined the function of a library in today’s digital era,” said the designers. Alongside traditional books in cases, the new library also “provides ample opportunity for the creation of new knowledge, in the form of lecture and events areas. “Curatorship has become just as important as the books themselves. This new role is facilitated by the architecture.” The library also has a number of ‘labs’
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK Images © Stijn Bollaert
where visitors can learn new skills. One is in the form of a glass cube, formerly part of the concert hall in Amsterdam’s Beurs van Berlage building, and there’s also the Food Lab, the Word Lab, the DigiLab and the Heritage Lab.
The clustering of library, various arts institutes, workspace provider Seats2Meet and journalism faculties in the nearby Mindlabs creates “a diverse group of experts,” said Civic Architects. “Moreover, the form of the building ensures that the collection, the facilities and the manner in which they are used can be adapted to meet changing requirements.”
The atmosphere of the building is that of
a “knowledge institute.” The main structure as well as various original features have been carefully preserved and the new additions make use of “honest” materials such as black steel, concrete, glass and wood, applied over large surfaces. Textile screens add accents of scale and colour. “The main structure determines the architectural language, while the details adapt themselves to the scale of the building” said the architects. “Floors, columns and stairways reveal their characteristic textures when viewed at close hand, especially in daylight when the refined shadows created by the intricate window frames and translucent textile panels play upon them.”
After dark, the building is turned ‘inside
out’, with the interior becoming the main source of light: an inviting beacon in the city centre.
Textile screens Textile and interior designers Inside Outside have designed six ceiling height textile screens, which define separate areas and improve acoustics. These have a total surface area of 4125 m2
and can be
repositioned using a computerised system. For example, be moved to separate the Seats2Meet area from the higher library floors, or across one of the staircases to create a small, semi-private auditorium. The new architectural design is a contemporary reinterpretation of that of the original late-industrial building, dating from 1932, and “builds upon the logic of that design.” The impression of spaciousness is strengthened by new sightlines across the diagonally stepped interior landscape. Columns, floors, balustrades and the
screens “form the ‘grand gestures’ of the various axes within the spatial system, a reference to the industrial processes of the past,” said the architects. “The original riveted columns have been preserved and are joined by large supporting structures “in a more abstract form, which delineate the side aisles they create.”
ADF FEBRUARY 2019
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