incoming

John Weich on the public libraries offering the best templates for the future

From Alexandria’s ancient reading rooms to Europe’s monastic abbeys, great libraries have always inspired awe. Today’s open-access libraries are equally impressive. Take Snøhetta’s Alexandria revival or OMA’S Seattle Central Library. The idea of library as transparent public plaza is stronger today than ever before. ALA’S Oodi Library in Helsinki is a work of art, as is MVRDV’S Library in Tianjin. But it’s Mecanoo’s Lochal in Tilburg that offers the best template for the future. Not a new glass palace, but a repurposed locomotive shed that combines the monumentality of an industrial throwback with the calm intimacy of a well-appointed living room and the modularity of a Silicon Valley flexspace. A library you can live in, just like in the bookish abbeys of yore.