International Library of Children’s Literature

International Library of Children’s Literature
Architect: Tadao Ando
Address: 12-49 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Completion:2002
Area:6672 m2
Built Up Area:1930 m2
Site Area:5434 m2


Located within Ueno Park, The International Library of Children's Literature, a branch of the National Diet Library, is a renovation and expansion of the former Imperial Library built in 1906 and expanded in 1929. The subtle interventions of Ando create a dynamic juxtaposition between the old and the new while creating the first national library dedicated to children's literature.
The interventions of Ando are quite simple and elegant; a glass volume that pierces the renaissance-style street facade at a slight angle to form an entry, a continuation of this glass volume on the courtyard side to form a cafeteria, and a full height glass facade on the courtyard side that encloses a lounge space between it and the existing facade flanked on each end by a concrete volume containing vertical circulation.
The transparency and weightlessness of the glass facade allows for the continual reading of the old through the new. The existing facade was restored exactly as it was and the structure of the existing building was reinforced structurally against earthquakes. This new lounge area has a column-less interior, the glass facade supported only by vertical fire resistant steel supports. Because of its transparency and weightlessness it reads as part of the terraced exterior courtyard space.
In addition to the insertion of these glass volumes, concrete volumes and glass facade, Ando inserted two beautifully crafted wood cylinders into what used to be the reading room and is now the Children's Book Museum on the third floor. The form of these cylinders follows the form of the existing molding on the ceiling and defines smaller, more intimate, exhibition spaces within the larger room. When seen from outside of the room, they are provocative objects within a traditional space of white plaster moldings.
0 comments
add comment

more buildings from Tadao Ando