Barcelona’s main public library to be built next to the Ciutadella Park

Barcelona (ACN). Catalan architect Josep Maria Miró unveiled plans for the main public library in Barcelona: a five floor building next to the Estació de França train station, between the Ciutadella Park and the old harbour. The library will cost 37.4 million euros, will take three years to build and will house up to 600,000 volumes. To get this far has not been easy. This project has involved almost 13 years of continuous location changes and has suffered numerous handicaps that have hindered the construction of the first Spanish Government-funded library in Barcelona. This project and the other 61 finalists are currently on show at Barcelona Architects’ Professional Association (the ‘Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya’).

Miró assured that the library building location is important given its proximity to the Estació de França train station and to the Ciutadella Park, a “fundamental context for defining the project”, said Miró. The architect also explained that it is has been ‘very difficult’ to work on a 180 metre-long building project. “The best library is one that only has one floor”, he claimed “however, in this case it is impossible so the resulting building will have five floors”.

The long side of the building will house the principal entrance, just in front of the future green corridor that will connect the different cultural facilities of the neighbourhood: the Natural Science Museum, the Catalan Parliament, the Born Cultural Centre and the Pompeu Fabra University. As for the library’s interior, Miró assured that it is very unpredictable because “nowadays the inside of a library is closer to a Starbucks than to a classic atmosphere with people in silence’”. There will be terraces where users would be able to read outside in natural light. Miró has planned a very adaptable building, which can change the way space is being used through the years.

Building work is to begin in 2012. The library will initially house 250,000 volumes that will grow 35,000 every year until reaching 600,000 volumes in ten years. If everything goes to schedule, the library would be completed in 2015.