SLUB Dresden (building)

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SLUB Dresden with the glass roof of the central reading room

The building of the SLUB Dresden is the building of the Saxon State Library - State and University Library Dresden , which was built from 1999 to 2003 at Zellescher Weg 18 in Dresden according to plans by the architects Ortner & Ortner (today O&O Baukunst ) .

prehistory

With the re-establishment of the Free State of Saxony , the then Saxon State Minister for Science and Art , Hans Joachim Meyer , pursued the concept of amalgamating the then Saxon State Library (as it was also called in GDR times) with the library of the Technical University of Dresden , which was distributed to the individual sections (as the faculties were called in GDR times) was housed in a Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) . Various state and university libraries in other federal states were the inspiration for this idea before 1990, such as the Göttingen State and University Library . This library, which was to be newly created, required its own building, as the Saxon State Library itself was also housed at different locations (the actual library in a former infantry barracks in Albertstadt , the phonothek in the former Protestant part of the garrison church of St. Martin , the photo library in the Ständehaus ) .

A lengthy discussion phase extended to the location, as there were many supporters of accommodating it in the Erlweinspeicher , which was now empty , and of grouping the additional buildings around it: the idea of ​​building a new congress center in the neighborhood did not (yet) exist at the time.

Meyer stuck to a new building idea, in a first step an office building north of Zellescher Weg, a four-lane street to bypass the city center in an east-west direction, and built after 1990, was used for a (first) concentration of faculty libraries (Dre .Punct). It was only in the mid-1990s that the idea crystallized to give up a sports area of ​​the TU Dresden south of Zellescher Weg, exactly opposite this building, and to use it for a completely new building.

location

The SLUB is located in the Räcknitz district at the eastern end of the TU Dresden campus. The Zellesche Weg is located in front of the northern main entrance. There are other university buildings in the vicinity, mainly from the 1950s, but also new buildings from recent years such as the Biological Institute. To the north there are mainly single-family houses and villas in the Südvorstadt district . To the south is the historic core of Räcknitz, which has largely been preserved as a village. Although the library is only a little more than one and a half kilometers from the main train station as the crow flies , it is clearly visible on the edge of Dresden.

architecture

After an architectural competition in 1997, Ortner & Ortner (today O & O Baukunst ) received the planning contract.

Exterior

SLUB TU Dresden, 2003. View from the southeast
The southern latch at night

In addition to the two towering building parts in the form of two cuboids and the entrance area, the building has no facade in the narrower sense. From the street, it is also surrounded by a wall on which the old linden trees of the sports field are still located. The roof of the first floor is accessible and has plants. There are also large window areas for daylight illumination of the library. Another entrance is on the 2nd floor in the northern part of the building.

The two towering blocks have very few windows and are clad in yellow Thuringian travertine . In the southern block are the administrative offices and the German photo library ; while in the other part there are mainly public areas such as the book museum, a cafeteria and event halls.

Since most parts of the library are underground, the size of the library can hardly be seen from the outside. A total of two complete floors are located under the first floor at ground level.

inner space

There are around 1000 workstations available in the library

The interior of the library is centered on the reading room , which is centrally located under a glass roof. This hall extends over three floors downwards. Next to this are two more halls to the east and west, which extend over two floors. The smooth surfaces that the structure shows to the outside are less common inside. Only the northern building block protrudes from the lowest basement to the third floor and thus marks a transition from the interior design to the facade. The visual impression is broken much more by galleries , pillars and angled reading areas. The walls are partly paneled, partly made of exposed concrete. The floors are covered with light carpets or consist of dark parquet, which is made of French oak.

Central motif

The barcodes in the relief and the window arrangement of the northern bar

The vertical structures on the building are supposed to symbolize bar codes , which serve as unique identification features of the inventory units in a library, and the spine of a book. This motif can be recognized by pronounced vertical structures with seemingly arbitrary filling and interruption. On the outside, this is particularly recognizable by the arrangement of the windows and the reliefs of the facade cladding, on the inside by the wooden wall paneling with grooves of different widths.

reception

“The SLUB is without a doubt one of the most impressive new buildings in Dresden in recent years. The strict order and the meditative calm of the building convey the balance that should be inherent in a learning and research facility. However, the two opposite cubes are only the 'tip of the iceberg'. A three-storey plinth extends under the lawn. In the center, right between the above-ground houses, is the reading room. Outside, the interior design of the reading room conveys classic rigor and harmony. The various spines of books on the surrounding shelves set a counterpoint. They reappear as design elements in the parquet of the floor. "

- Ingeborg flag

Another story

The building was included in the exhibition New German Architecture in 2002 , "[a] a selection that represents something like the architectural signature of the contemporary in Germany".

On July 6, 2010, a new daily record was set with 6685 visitors.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flag, p. 19 (Saxon State Library, State and University Library [SLUB])
  2. ^ SLUB - Saxon State and University Library Dresden: Concentrated working atmosphere. on das-neue-dresden.de , accessed on June 22, 2018.
  3. ↑ The SLUB is “humming”. , Self-report of the SLUB of July 7, 2010, accessed on June 22, 2018

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 41.5 ″  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 12.4 ″  E