Metropolitan Library of Jinju City
Architects
Sol89. María González and Juanjo López de la Cruz + Woodrock Architects + Jongjin Lee
Collaborators
Cristobal Galocha, Álvaro Valverde, Architects; Elena Beltrán, infografías; Seongujo Research Institute Co. Ltd, estructura; Samwoo M&C Co. Ltd, ing. mecánica; Oficina Técnica Woorim Electric 5F, ing. eléctrica; Compañía Binet Ltd, ing. de telecomunicaciones; Compañía de ingeniería Hyogwang Ltd, ing. civil; Grupo de diseño paisajístico AE, paisajismo
Client
Jinju City Government. Departamento de Cultura y Artes
Construction Company
Saerum Construction Co.Ltd.
Photography
Sol89
The Park and the Library: The Path and the Books
The new East Jinju Municipal Library is nestled between a vast area of high-density housing and Jangdae Hill Park. This boundary condition between two distinct urban realities grants the new library the role of a mediator between the residences and their primary leisure and rest area, the park. The project embraces this intermediary position and proposes that the library functions at an urban scale as a transit device between the city and the park, intertwining the public activity of the library with the paths and views towards it. A journey that begins in the new access plaza initiates the path to the park, longitudinally crossing the library via a gentle ramp embraced by reading rooms open towards this passage that culminates in the green hill.
Space and Topography: The Footprint and the Cloud
The library space is a mythical reference present in all cultures. From the Library of Alexandria to the finest examples of modern and contemporary libraries, the library space has been a place where the landscape of stored books and the nuanced light for reading configure suggestive atmospheres of calm and knowledge. The project leverages the pronounced topography of the site to create a footprint and a cloud: a stepped section carved into the terrain that formalizes three concatenated and ascending platforms is protected by a large green cover that is perforated to let light pass through courtyards, skylights, and the passage leading to the park. The diagonal space constituted by the three platforms naturally divides the program into the demanded areas: the activities of the daytime center and cafeteria at the level closest to the avenue, the libraries and children’s areas on the second level associated with the path of books, and the general library on the third platform whose rear limit is already the slope of the park.
This efficient vertical organization ordered according to the different requested uses is intertwined through the diagonal section, so that multiple visions and transparencies, also favored by the courtyards inserted between the matrix of pillars, allow, despite the differentiation of the functional program, a global perception of the space that refers to the shared memory of the reading rooms of the great libraries.
