New Maranello Library, Italy Public Building Development, Northern Italian Architecture, Architect

New Maranello Library, Italy

Emilia-Romagna Building Development – design by Andrea Maffei Architects

22 Apr 2013

Maranello Library

Design: Andrea Maffei Architects

Location: Maranello, Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy

Maranello Library Building

The site is located in Vittorio Veneto street in Maranello (Modena), inside a well- established residential fabric.

The building borders with a residential court on the north, with a public green area on the west, with a residential building on the south built in adherence and with other residential buildings on the East and partially in adherence. The project we propose presents a surface equal to 1,175 sqm. It is the existing building renovation through the existing north perimeter walls maintenance, east and south confining with some residential offices, the demolition of the central part of the prefabricated and the construction of a library as a volume contained within the old building’s height limits and developed partly outside the earth and partly under the earth.

photo from architect

The access to the new library is situated on the west side. The project has developed starting from the definition of three main spaces, corresponding to a consulting area, a great reading room and to the multipurpose rooms, these last rooms usable independently. Inside these three main spaces the consulting and library patrimony storage areas, the newspaper library, the sound archives and video library, the game room, the multi – functions room, the study hall, the historical local archive, the exposition and temporary exhibitions room are foreseen. Some service spaces have been foreseen inside these rooms which foresee some stations for catalogues consultation and for internet access, users’ loan desk, administrative offices for library’s staff and the library warehouse.

A division of reading spaces has been foreseen according to possible users’ category and a particular attention has been paid to 0 – 6 aged children’s spaces, for those children between 6 and 10 years and for those between 11 and 14. High school and university students instead have consulting and study areas which don’t interfere with the others. The building is composed by three main volumes conceived to satisfy the functions contained in them in the best way.

photos from architect

A transparent volume which hosts the coffee house is located at the ground floor, with a service space and a wide counter, expositive spaces for the association “Maranello myth’s land and all the library consultancy and reading areas. The volume mirrors on the water surface which surrounds it and water reverberates the deep green colour which enriches the boundary walls preserved by the project. A platform roof juts towards public spaces and acknowledges architecture from the street ; inside the absolute white of the resin floor and of furniture shines with external green reflected through the continuing glass wall, which runs along the curvilinear shape.

photos from architect

The light which pervades the library open space performs in a reflection game which bounces from the furniture’s’ white elements, the floor’s elements and the structures’ elements, to water and to the continuing transparent glasses. A single opaque volume is positioned on the south side, also pure white coloured, to contain service spaces, the stairs going down to the basements and to the game room, provided with a window to allow natural light. The basement floor consists of a parallelepiped accessible by a stair and an elevator for invalids, with a function of goods lift for books. We immediately find in a free space constituted by multifunction room and by the expositive space, which can be set up at one’s pleasure. In this underground area also storage spaces for library patrimony find a collocation, as well as the historical local archive which has little apposite consultative areas.

Maranello Library information / images received from Andrea Maffei Architects

Previously:

4 Apr 2013

New Library in Maranello

Design: Andrea Maffei Architects

Location: Maranello, Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy

MABIC, Maranello

MABIC, situated in 850 sqm area, is located inside a well-established residential context in Maranello and the library replaces an ex industrial warehouse maintaining the perimeter walls. The typical idea of the classic library is changed in an organic transparent shape put inside the original perimeter of the industrial building.

photos : Alessandra Chemollo

The space between the transparent curvilinear glass skin and the existing perimeter walls is occupied as a connection element by a water tank, that stretches to the north of the road. The entrance, covered by a canopy, is located to the west, facing the new square. The two-floors library, composed by the basement and the ground floor, occupies a gross floor surface of 1175 sqm and reaches a maximum height of 5,30 m.

In the ground level visitors can find the principal functions; the multifunctional room in the basement can be reached by a staircase in the centre of the hall. The glass facade in the perimeter and the skylights located in the inner parts, guarantee in the reading room an excellent natural lighting. On the bottom of the water tank, as in the coverage, there is a layer of white gravel, which reduces the warm effect.

photos : Alessandra Chemollo

The exterior walls are completely covered by vegetation acts in synergy with the water, ensuring the microclimatic conditions improvement, the air depuration, the attenuation of noises, besides psychological and social effects. A geothermal system, obtained with a complete air system, has been achieved for the conditioning of the building. Compared with a natural gas warm generator we will have a 45% of energy saving in summer and a 30% of energy saving in winter. The building is also provided with a system of disposal/collection of meteoric water used for the irrigation.

New Maranello Library information / images received from Andrea Maffei Architects

Location: Maranello, Italy, southern Europe