Structure Classics: Luis Ángel Arango Library / Germán Samper

Within the mid-Twentieth century, within the coronary heart of Bogotá, Colombia, one of many biggest architectural landmarks within the historical past of this metropolis was taking form. At the moment, Luis Ángel Arango, the supervisor of the Banco de la República, started to work on establishing a library to accommodate the gathering of books that the financial institution had been buying over 30 years and which continued to develop. It was then that the agency Esguerra Sáenz and Samper appeared on the scene, to whom the design of this house was attributed, created in a number of phases over a span of twenty years.

Germán Samper is among the freshest minds within the nation, regardless of his superior age. Even in any case these years, it’s attainable to see with nice talent how his genius stays as related at present because it was half a century in the past, and the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango is an ideal instance of the aesthetics, city integration, and respect for scale that characterize this architect a lot.

In an space of seven,200 sq. meters within the coronary heart of the historic middle, a novel quantity emerges, and its timelessness lies in its sobriety. Germán Samper decides to reply to town with noble supplies comparable to wooden and marble, with out exceeding the peak of close by buildings, all the time respecting the encompassing plenty. The library consists of a dense physique that seems to drift on the slope of the terrain, creating public house beneath because the inclination turns into extra pronounced. Glass, as an heir and witness of the modernist spirit, takes on a number one position on this volumetric flight and within the numerous surfaces that intersect the preliminary quantity via flat and sloping roofs to light up the inside areas. This is a crucial facet as Germán Samper not solely considers the creation of 4 facades for a right away surroundings but in addition contemplates the volumetric design of the roofs as a fifth facade that permits integration with the sloping roofs of the republican and colonial homes when the challenge is perceived from the encompassing hills of town.

As a frequent customer to the library, I might describe it as an exploration of areas outlined by their fastidiously deliberate lighting concentrations and orientations. Every space has a definite character, and each house goals to supply guests a distinct expertise, abandoning the prejudiced monotony that the phrase “library” would possibly indicate. That is why the challenge might be understood as a “library of areas,” the place every room is thoughtfully designed to offer a novel and enriching environment for guests.

Upon coming into the library, guests have two choices for studying: they’ll both go “straight to the purpose” by taking the staircase that results in the studying rooms, interconnected by bridges and stairs, or head to the knowledge module that integrates the totally different lively areas of the library. This data module is exactly one of the vital distinctive areas, that includes a quantity that appears to emerge from the bottom, creating a way of weightlessness due to the expansions within the ceiling and the exact use of lighting. 

Past the knowledge module, there are customer support places of work. After coming into an ample open house, there’s a cafeteria and a few small a number of studying rooms from which all of the circulation of the studying rooms might be contemplated, overlooking a void of greater than 4 flooring in top. This complete house is protected by a sloped glass roof dealing with north, permitting pure mild to penetrate all ranges of the challenge.

To entry the studying rooms, it’s essential to proceed alongside the staircas
e from the library’s entrance and observe the passageways coated by the massive roof. Nonetheless, there’s a house that Germán Samper wished to present a definite character: the periodical studying room. This extension is situated on the southern aspect of the challenge beneath a lattice concrete roof with central lighting, a outstanding achievement, and a harmonious mix of design and building; the getting older of the fabric itself provides the house a novel character.

Nonetheless, all these areas might pale compared to Samper’s favourite house: the live performance corridor. As a prelude to it, there’s a massive crimson room, bathed in delicate mild supplied by an extension within the facade, which additionally frames the home windows of the Casa de la Moneda. The room incorporates a easy but elegant furnishings choice, evoking the attractive period of the Nineteen Fifties via the suitable alternative of leather-based, wooden, and marble supplies. From its entrance, the live performance corridor exudes a maternal character attributable to its elliptical form, and its centripetal design attracts the viewer in direction of its middle to entry and witness a powerful wood shell. The stepped design of this shell grants it probably the greatest acoustics within the nation.

This steady era of areas, supported by the premises’ unassuming materiality, is the challenge’s essential attribute. Areas comparable to the doorway to the parking tons, the steps to the audiovisual room, the respectful setbacks to Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar’s sculptures, or the cantilever that covers the sidewalk on the southern aspect, all contribute to holding the library related to this present day. This, exactly, is the nice lesson of this marvelous traditional of Colombian structure, inviting us to mirror on the significance of the emotional situation of house as a latent determinant of the passage of time.