Red plastic boxes, the new 'Amsterdam-style' book containers
The architecture and interior design studio Ira Koers and the graphic design Roeloff Mulder collaborated in the remodeling of this library, carrying out a project that has won several awards, including the prestigious 2009 Great Indoor Award.
For students it is their second home and, every day, between 2,500 and 5,000 university students enjoy its benefits. A large light wood counter welcomes you at the entrance, and on the front it reads in large letters: INFORMATION, so that there is no doubt about its function. The interior is neat and white , except for some touches of gray and black in the large common spaces, such as the one for group work, whose tables under steel lamps are reminiscent of those in a dining room.
The warmest part, the most natural
The atmosphere is cold, although it becomes more comfortable when you get to the reading areas, decorated with colored furniture and some seats and tables made with tree trunks . But the most spectacular area is the area of storage of books : they are individually stored in stacked red plastic boxes, thousands of boxes with a blank number that determines which book it is.
Students can order the book online and pick it up at this neon-lit warehouse, which adds a dramatic and theatrical effect to the environment . The books are treated as strange laboratory specimens, treasures that must be pampered to the point that they cannot even be exposed to the view of the readers.
Roelof Mulder, graphic designer, multidisciplinary artist and typography expert, was the first winner of the Rotterdam Design Prize and has worked with great Dutch designers such as Droog Design or Marcel Wanders , and has been art director of the magazine Frame . He tells us: “We wanted to offer the student a blank canvas so that they, with their own objects and their personal environment, consider the library as their second home. we arranged an exchange of cold spaces and warm spaces for the different functions that take place inside it”.
INFORMATIE, in case you hadn't noticed
This space is temporary until a new building is built , but it will be difficult to forget the red room of hidden books. Perhaps his concealment is a metaphor for the uncertain future that awaits paper books . In this library they are protected from dust and prying eyes, as if they were already relics.