OFFICE 10

The Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm University Library project disputes the rigid typology of the Berlin perimeter block. Instead of a single building, it proposes two mirrored modernist slabs that define an internal square, with the typically bare firewalls of the adjacent buildings visible in the background. Both building volumes – one for research, the other a public library – are not only accessible from this square, but exposed to it, their glazed facades revealing rows of book stacks on floors of varying height. In contrast to these exposed facades, the elevations facing the streets are blank and clad in slabs of white marble. The notion of the ‘front’ of the building becomes confused. The two blocks are linked at basement level as well as by a connecting bridge on the first floor – the same level as the elevated commuter railway across the street, so the passing train carriages are reflected in its mirror glass facade.