The Caterina Albert Library in Barcelona
To choose our next journey through words, a good idea is to go to a library. Libraries, despite the strength of the digital universe, continue to be the containers of knowledge, they adapt to the new times, generate all kinds of activities and bring readers together. Barcelona and Madrid have two new reader factories located in spectacular spaces: an old factory and a historic zoo.
BARCELONA
Catherine Albert Library
The Catalan writer Caterina Albert gives her name to this innovative library located on a site occupied by a factory. The team of architects Oliveras Boix Arquitectes has transformed it into a box in which natural light and white color harmonize the spaces . One of the novelties of this library is the possibility of adapting the space to different uses; the versatile furniture of the firm m144 it can be easily moved, the height of the shelves and their level of inclination are adjustable.
This is the first library in Barcelona that has incorporated the service of self loan , which allows users to manage the transfer of books, renew and return material and collect reservations. Thus, the reader has more autonomy and the dreaded queues disappear. It also has the essential children's area, music and cinema area, assembly hall, multimedia space and area for newspapers and magazines. But the difference is marked by a service of maximum social interest: it is about providing information through a large documentary archive on the labor market, the objective is to help people who are looking for work.
MADRID
Menagerie Library
Until 1972, elephants, bears, giraffes and panthers lived in a corner of the Retiro which was called Casa de Fieras. Books, like new exotic animals in danger of extinction, will now fill this space that will open at the end of April. In its remodeling, the essence of the architecture of the early nineteenth century, the time when Fernando VII built the zoo, has been preserved. The brick and ceramic trim of some of the windows have been preserved, and the cage railings on the ground floor have been replaced with small projecting glass cubicles that create a sense of integration with the surrounding profuse vegetation.
** Sebastián Araujo and Jaime Nadal ** have been in charge of an architectural project that is committed to open spaces, transparency inside and large windows to the outside. It will have 283 reading and consultation posts, 78 in the activity room, 37 on the Internet , a documentary collection of 73,668 copies and 8,017 multimedia titles spread over the different floors.
Travel is guaranteed on these two new shuttles that will drive us to travel non-stop.