폴크왕 도서관은 도심지 중앙에 자리 잡은 폴크왕 예술대학의 음악학 공용 도서관으로
190,000 여점에 달하는 다양한 음악적 아이템을 소장 및 보유하고 있습니다.
이러한 도서관의 특징은 내부의 소중한 컨텐츠를 보호 및 저장하는 모놀리틱한 공간으로
파사드에 인상적인 디자인 패턴을 만듭니다. 사진작가와의 협업을 통해 탄생한 파사드 디자인은
거칠고 오래된 원석을 클로즈업한 이미지를 유리면에 투영 시킵니다. 매끈한 유리면과 그 유리면위에
고도의 기술을 통해 입혀진 원석의 질감은 둘 사이의 묘한 긴장감을 발생 시키는데 그것은 마치
화재로 인하여 소실되었던 이전 공간에 대한 연계성을 시사하는 동시에 르네상스 시대
스토코 회반죽으로 빚어진 각종 건축물의 디테일들을 떠올리게 합니다.
하지만 무엇보다 재미있는 점은 유형과 무형을 넘나드는
파사드의 양면적 디자인에 있습니다.
주간에는 음악을 보호하는 쇼케이스로 하드한 이미지를, 야간에는 내부로 부터 발현되는 빛을 통한
반투명성으로 소프트한 이미지를 만들어 냅니다. 이것은 음악과 건축의 관계와 같이
지금 폴크왕 도서관과 같이 무형을 담고 있는 유형적 환경을
아주 거칠고 단단한 이미지에서(때로는 매끈한 이미지에서) 내부 사람들의
실루엣이 비추어지는 또는 내부의 빛의 발산으로 반투명적인 환경으로 사라지는
소프트한 이미지로 드라마틱하게 변화 시킵니다.
무형의 음악이 유형의 공간을 지배하듯이.
그렇게 도서관의 입면 디자인은 거칠지만 매끈한 유리면에 입혀진
반투명한 텍스쳐가 느껴지는 이미지로 색다른 랜드마크를 형성합니다.
reviewed by SJ
Folkwang University of the Arts is home to one of the largest
musicological collections in Germany. Until now, its inventory of
approximately 190 000 items of sheet music, sound recordings, images,
books and other media has been stored in various archives and libraries
across the region. But now, musicological items from three institutions –
Folkwang University, the former library of musicology at The
Ruhr-University Bochum as well as the music education department of
University Duisberg-Essen – have been brought together under a single
roof, in a new building designed by architect Max Dudler. Situated on
the Werden campus, the library was inaugurated at the end of September
2012.
Folkwang University of the Arts is North Rhine Westphalia’s college of art and music. Its main campus is housed in the former Benedictine abbey of St. Ludgerus in Essen-Werden, situated in the southern Ruhr Valley. The small 8th century site was extended into a princely baroque residence in the 18th century, arranged around a magnificent courtyard (Cour d’honneur). The construction of the new library on the south side of the courtyard by the architect Max Dudler replaces a 19th century military hospital building demolished in 1969.
In 2006 Max Dudler won the design competition organised by the Duisburg branch of the Building and Real Estate Management Authority, North Rhine Westphalia. The project was generously supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
In 1811, while under French occupation, a prison was set up in Werden Abbey. The Prussians extended this and erected a hospital building on the south side of the courtyard. Upon the demolition of the hospital building, the remaining ensemble of buildings looked unbalanced. Without reproducing the original shape of the prison, the new building encloses this side of the courtyard with its voluminous crystalline structure. The new building’s eastern side adjoins the so-called administrative wing of the old abbey. The volume of the new building corresponds approximately to that of the Prussian wing across the courtyard.
Folkwang Library was conceived as a monolithic body built atop the level base of an old rough stone wall. Max Dudler’s concept for the building is based on the idea of the ‘museum showcase’: An exterior shell protecting the valuable contents within. The functional areas are grouped around the reading room, which lies at the centre of the building. The bookshelves are arranged in strict order around this room, thereby lending scale and structure to the building as a whole.
There are two entrances to the library: The main entrance is from the courtyard via a flight of external steps, designed to approximate the style of the entrances to the other buildings leading off from the courtyard. The library’s other entrance on the Klemensborn serves as an emergency exit. Lending desks, media cubicles, an administration area and cloakroom are situated on the ground floor; the reading room on the first floor. The compact archives are housed in the library’s basement.
The design of the building’s facade was developed in collaboration with the photographer Stefan Müller. Every pane of glass in the facade depicts a large format close-up of a quarry. These photographs reproduce the unhewn stone in its original size. The photographic works were applied directly onto the glazing using a special technique.
In keeping with the elemental meaning of the number twelve in music, twelve motives were pieced together into an overall composition. As with the scagliola technique of the Renaissance used to create stucco marbling, this special photographic technique creates the illusion of the facade being fashioned from the stone material itself.
At the same time, a tension is created between the imagery of the textured stone and the flat surface of the glass, reminiscent of the historical sgraffito technique, whereby a graphic embossing is etched into a smooth plaster surface. The new building’s smooth glass surfaces create the perfect impression of a polished monolith. But this is called into question by the translucency of the building’s exterior, thereby playfully breaking the boundaries both from inside and out. Silhouettes of people can be seen beyond the facade. The interior is bathed in a soft, filtered light. In the evening, the building illuminates the courtyard outside.
The building comprises a reinforced concrete skeleton with concrete
cores to provide stiffening. The glass facade is attached to the
building’s projecting structural slabs using the mullion-transom system.
The concrete pillars are shaped and positioned according to the
dimensions of the book shelves. The pillars are clad in cherry wood,
which is also used for the shelving in the reading room. Not all the
pillars are load-bearing. Some are used as part of an ‘inert’
air-conditioning system.
With the ventilation pipes being channelled directly through the reinforced concrete ceilings, this building material’s potential as a heat sink is thereby put to good use. Through coupling this with a heat exchanger, an innovative contribution to energy efficiency is achieved.
from dezeen