Meeting point for culture. Public library by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
04/03/2024.
[Sint-Martens-Latem] Belgium
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
Project description by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
The new library for the municipality of Sint-Martens-Latem is first of all a central gathering point. In the tradition of the cultural center, the library is set up as a large living space, shared by the residents of the municipality. A saddle-shaped roof is delimited by a circular perimeter. The perimeter cuts the roof shape into a distinctive figure in the center of the municipality, as an anchor point, as the first element of a cluster of public buildings – buildings in the village center, along the road, and along the new municipal settlement. The rounded red brick perimeter makes the main space of the library building. The library cabinets inside are built alongside and also carry the roof. The steel cabinet wall defines the separation line between library spaces and the municipality. In the round perimeter, a square figure makes both the reading garden and the polyvalent hall. The reading room is a reading room in direct relation to its garden. The reading garden is the center of the library, is the ‘largest room in the largest house’ of the municipality.
Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen was founded in 2002 by Kersten Geers and David Van Severen. Since its establishment, Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen has earned a reputation as one of Belgium’s most successful and renowned practices, and one of the world’s truly original voices in present-day architecture. Office engages in all architectural and urbanist design, creating projects of all scales ranging from furniture to master planning in Belgium as well as internationally. This practice is combined with academic research and teaching. These two aspects of Office’s work are explicitly each other’s mirror, creating unexpected parallels between academic and practical work.
Kersten Geers (Ghent, 1975), graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the Esquela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, Spain. He worked with Maxwan Architects and Urbanists and with Neutelings Riedijk Architects in Rotterdam. He was a professor at the University of Ghent, and visiting professor at Columbia University, NYC, and the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio (CH), and is currently teaching at the EPFL, Lausanne (CH), and Harvard Graduate School of Design (US). He is a founding member of the architecture magazine San Rocco.
David Van Severen (Ghent, 1978), graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the Esquela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, Spain. Since 1995 he designed and made several objects, installations, and furniture. He worked with Stéphane Beel Architects, Xaveer De Geyter Architects, and Atelier Maarten Van Severen. He was a teacher and guest critic at the Academy of Amsterdam, the TU Delft, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam (NL), and the Architecture School of Versailles (FR), and he’s currently guest tutor at Harvard Graduate School of Design (US).