The Grimm Centre of the Humboldt University of Berlin is the largest open-access library in Germany. In order to mark the importance of the library in terms of urban development, part of the building towers over the typical Berlin eaves edge. Like a cubic repository of knowledge, the building fits into the urban silhouette of the nearby Museum Island. In order to create an entrance for the library, the fabric of Berlin's Dorotheenstadt was enriched by a city square in front of it along the S-Bahn viaduct. All 2.5 million media units can be reached from the stair-like terraces of the central reading room: a central space that also enables decentralized work. In the Humboldtian sense, the library brings together fields of knowledge - and at the same time encourages visitors to cross the boundaries of these areas in the truest sense of the word. The Grimm Centre received the BDA Architecture Prize Nike 2010 for the best urban planning interpretation, the BDA Prize Berlin 2009, an award at the Berlin Architecture Prize 2009, the German Natural Stone Prize 2011 as well as the International Award Architecture in Stone 20111 and the Access City Award 2013.
[Source: Max Dudler] (https://www.maxdudler.de/de/projekte/jacob-und-wilhelm-grimm-zentrum/)
Photos: Stefan Josef Müller
