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library construction, often led by great
architects," they note, "offers. . . a building
of a complexity commensurate with the rich
heritage of the spaces that characterize it."
Complexity brings challenge and, in this
case at least, profound transformation.
The architects reconfigured circulation for
the library to open and give it light. They
introduced a new entrance and courtyard,
and, in a pivotal move, switched out
staircases, trading in the old main staircase
for a shiny aluminum-clad statement. "In
architecture, the staircase is an object of
choice," the practice observes. "Its space,
form and place say a lot about the way it
has been designed and thought out." Here
that idea translated in a stupendous metallic
spiral that lends aesthetic tension to an
antique canvas that had become stodgy
without something fresh. One would not
dare classify the new staircase in simple
utilitarian terms as "a fire safety necessity"
that "can be punished in a dark corner of the
plan, caged, disappearing from our view."
Indeed not.
To that end, the library's Oval Room remains
a dramatic, gasp-inducing astonishment.
Fully refreshed with mirrored lighting
and modern shelving, this skylit space is
Confronted with a "vast tangle" of spaces
built over three centuries, the building was
a cramped, slow creep of accumulation from
"constant transformations, enlargements,
demolitions and densifications." Just like
a great book can drift outside the margins,
revealing something unexplored, the
architects discovered behind the library's
well-ordered stone facades "hidden
buildings that [had] been redesigned
or even rebuilt many times, sometimes
with up to 14 floors. This long history of
56 DIGS.NET
| 4.21.23
