In order to be able to guarantee an appropriate training situation despite an increased number of students, a significant expansion of the book display area and the student workplaces as well as the premises for the administration at this location was necessary.
The building site on Lazarettstraße is located in the middle of heterogeneous development between the adjacent property of the central library and cafeteria building immediately to the south and the green space that characterises the urban development, formed by the street line of Lazarettstrasse with its avenue-like row of trees and the biotope of the neighbouring property. The design takes up this potential and fits cautiously into the existing situation in terms of scale and position. The new building is built on the northern side of the existing library as a free-standing four-storey building. The new library building is accessible to library visitors from the existing building via the bridge on the 3rd floor. The new building is characterised by a clear floor plan structure, which is based on a strict construction grid.
The building's spatial disposition is clearly oriented towards the park side in the north, while a "back" with access and ancillary space zones is created towards the existing building. The layering of the floors is emphasized by increasing room heights. The clarity of the building (layering, construction grid, orientation) is reflected in the façades. The stratification can be read through the horizontal banding (corresponding to the ceiling end plates). Pre-elemental, opaque filling elements and window openings are dimensioned to match the construction grid and the respective use. The façade on the north side also conveys the idea of effective loads: the distance between the columns of the lower floors is halved compared to the top floor, the reading room.
[Source: Andreas Meck] (http://andreasmeck.de/realisierungen/hochschulbibliothek-muenchen)
[Photos: Michael Heinrich] (http://www.mhfa.de/)
