Stockholm City Library

The main building

Stockholm stadsbibliotek the 1928 inaugurated the main building designed by the Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund built City Library of Stockholm . In a broader sense, the name is also applied to the entire Stockholm city library system. Asplunds Bau is located at the intersection of Sveavägen and Odengatan in the Vasastaden district . Currently (2007) there are around 700,000 books in the library as well as 177 current daily newspapers and 1,200 magazines, some of which are housed in different buildings in the neighborhood.

architecture

Asplund himself joined a commission in 1918 that discussed concepts for building a library. This resulted in his plans presented in 1922, which were implemented from 1924. Planning is preceded by a long study trip to the USA . Inspired by this, Asplund designed a central main room with freely accessible book shelves, surrounded by reading rooms and atriums. Initially considering a domed structure , he finally built a central rotunda , partly inspired by the Barrière Saint-Martin ( Rotonde de la Villette ) by Claude Nicolas Ledoux , whose tall cylinder gives the otherwise not-too-large building volume a monumental appearance.

Ledoux: Rotonde de la Villette, Paris , 18th century

The building was inaugurated on March 31, 1928 in the presence of Prince Eugene . A west wing, which was still missing at that time due to lack of money, was completed in 1932. The park to the south with the large water basin and the low shop buildings along Sveavägen also go back to Asplund and were completed in 1931. Three annex buildings to the west are included in his overall concept, but are designed by the architects Erik Lallerstedt (1929–30 and 1932) and Paul Hedqvist (1952–53).

The complex of the city library clearly shows the maturation process of the architect and the upheaval in the architecture of this time in Sweden. While the first sketches are still rooted in the traditional Swedish classicism of the 1920s, " Swedish grace ", the project becomes more and more simplified as the planning period progresses. With the exception of a frieze below the row of windows, the main cylindrical building has been completely freed from any ornamentation and shows a clear functionalist direction. The shop buildings are being built at the same time as the Stockholm exhibition in 1930 , as the main architect of which Asplund devoted himself entirely to functionalism and became its most important representative in Sweden. The Stockholm City Library is one of Asplund's main works , along with the forest cemetery .

The library under construction in 1927.
Photo: Stockholms stadsmuseum

The new building around 1929.
Photo: Stockholms stadsmuseum

Planned extension

Due to lack of space, an international architecture competition was announced in 2006 for an extension to the area of the annex buildings, the fate of which ( demolition or incorporation) is deliberately not prescribed. The 1170 proposals submitted will be limited to a final selection of six, from which the German architect Heike Hanada emerged as the winner on November 17, 2007. Her Delphinium project envisages a nine-story glass building that she separates from Asplund's main building. A connection between the two is established by a low, grass-covered tract , which opens in a circle to the mountain of the observatory (Observatorielunden).

The start of construction was planned for 2010, and it was hoped that the finished building would be inaugurated on March 31, 2013, on time for the 85th anniversary. All plans for an extension to the library were stopped on October 12, 2009 by the Stockholm city government after ICOMOS ( UNESCO's expert body for cultural issues ) and Svenska Academies , among others, criticized the proposal.

Individual evidence

↑ Data according to ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on 20th Century Heritage, HERITAGE ALERT September 2009 ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 194 kB). @1@ 2

^ Eleonore Harmel: Ad acta. ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Bauwelt. 17-18.2010 (accessed December 15, 2011). The objections to the redesign of the area are summarized by ICOMOS here ( memento of the original from July 17, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2 @1@ 2

Literature and source

Ernst Serck: The new Stockholm City Library. Architect: EG Asplund . In: Wasmuths monthly books for architecture and urban development, vol. 13, 1929, pp. 59–65 ( digitized ).

Claes Caldenby, Olof Hultin: Asplund. Arkitektur Förlag, Stockholm 1985, ISBN 91-86050-12-5 .
Henrik O. Andersson, Fredric Bedoire: Stockholms byggnader. en bok om arkitektur och stadsbild i Stockholm. Bokförlaget Prisma, Stockholm 1977, ISBN 91-518-1125-1 .