New library in Dresden by Reimar Herbst Architects

Architects travel to Dresden primarily to see the SLUB. Near the Reimann apartment buildings, however, a new library building was ceremonially opened on December 12, 2006, this time belonging to HTW (University of Applied Sciences). The design comes from the Berlin duo Reimar Herbst Architekten. The clear cubic mass of the library opens towards Andreas-Schubert-Strasse, following the architects' vision of creating the "soul of HTW." From the square created in this way, one can access other seminar buildings, lecture halls, as well as the glass extension of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, to which the mass of the library is oriented. The freestanding four-story building has an inner atrium running through its entire height, to which all parts of the library converge. The robustly profiled outer facade consists of a concrete shell combined with deeply recessed windows. The rough and playful texture of the large-format cladding panels was achieved through sandblasting. Natural additives and colored pigments lent the facade an olive green hue. In contrast, the inner walls of the atrium are covered with light plaster. Link>