Rentemestervej Library

foto: Stamers Kontor

The Library is an extension of an existing culture house in Copenhagen’s north-west. The extension fulfills four main functions: a children’s library, a youth library, a library for adults and a concert hall.
The building’s unique design is comprised of four golden boxes stacked on top of one another, each containing one of the building’s four main functions. Deliberately designed to resemble a stack of books, the building’s floors each contain a world of their own, including individually staged scenography.
The spaces between the boxes are used as flexible spaces. Moving through the building, you experience an interplay between the different staged spatialities in each box versus an open, flexible space outside and between the boxes.
An important element in the architecture is the golden brown siding inside and out of extruded, gold anodized aluminium, which offers the possibility of varying the transparency of the fenestration and creates a uniform facade expression.
Seen from the outside, the facade changes over day depending on how the daylight falls. Some windows are placed behind the expanded metal, which is barely visible in daylight, but clearly appears in the evening when the house is illuminated from the inside.
North-west is an area in Copenhagen located between the lively, dense and diverse urban neighbourhood of Nørrebro and the villa neighborhood at the edge of the city.
Many people live and work in this multiethnic area.
Yet, since the area is located in the vicinity to numerous entry roads, most Copenhagener’s only use the north-west as passage when going in and out of the city by car. Located here, The Library appears as a golden gem, beautifying an often disregarded part of town - a much needed institution for arts and culture in the area.