Will be housed in the N01 data center campus in Vennesla CoreWeave has selected a Bulk Infrastructure data center in Norway to host a Nvidia GB200 NVL72 cluster deployment The cluster will be located at Bulk's N01 data center Campus in Vennesla and will have the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 configuration interconnected by Nvidia Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking The deployment is expected to be operational by the summer of 2025 The size of the cluster has not been shared but has been described by the companies as "one of the largest Nvidia AI deployments in Europe." "We’re excited to partner with Bulk to further expand our regional footprint and capacity in Europe to support the growing need for AI and high-performance computing across the region," said Mike Mattacola and ability to scale supporting our expansion plans make them an ideal partner in Norway." added: "Working with a globally renowned AI-company like CoreWeave marks a significant milestone for Bulk Securing an AI deployment of this size demonstrates our capability to meet the needs of our major customers Our N01 data center campus is uniquely equipped to meet the stringent demands of AI workloads and this collaboration aligns perfectly with our mission to provide sustainable and scalable digital infrastructure solutions." The N01 data center campus is located on a three-square-km site next to a transformer station just outside of Kristiansand in the Agder region. The campus uses 100 percent renewable energy from multiple hydropower stations. Bulk has 400MW of power secured at the site, with expansion possible up to 1GW. In January 2024 Bulk broke ground on a 42MW expansion at the campus BGO is an investor in Bulk Infrastructure, contributing $380 million in June 2024 bringing its total support to more than $700m since 2020 CoreWeave began offering the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 instances in February of this year initially from the company's US-West-01 region The initial offering of GB200 NVL72-based instances on CoreWeave connect 36 Nvidia Grace CPUs and 72 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs in a liquid-cooled are available as bare-metal instances through CoreWeave Kubernetes Service The company announced plans to invest $2.2 billion across Europe in 2024 to expand its AI infrastructure powered by renewable energy CoreWeave was founded in 2017 as a cryptomining firm, but has become one of the biggest players in AI infrastructure after pivoting to offer access to GPUs. The company is currently preparing for an IPO CoreWeave had opened 28 data centers globally with an additional 10 new data centers planned across 2025 In January taking space in data centers operated by Global Switch and Digital Realty Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia © Emile AshleyTypical of Helen & Hard's work the project also focuses on reducing the energy need through the use of high standard energy saving solutions in all new parts of the project defined as class “A” in the Norwegian energy-use definition system You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email The ribs ensure optimal ventilation and light They also transform into furniture when reaching the ground level The construction conforms to low energy standards... ... thanks to the use of a single central geothermal heat pump and the fact that air is released through a rib 'add-on' at ground level, returning through the ribs at the ceiling The interiors are detailed in timber, using oak parquetry for all floors and plywood veneer birch for fixed fittings Untreated heartwood pine is used in the outer façade The project was completed at the end of 2011 The new building, incorporating a library, a café and public meeting spaces, is linked to a cinema and adult educational facility, built earlier The interconnecting buildings overlook the main town square Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox. Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper* She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006 visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas Ellie has also taken part in judging panels such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022) norwegian practice helen & hard (siv helene stangeland reinhard kropf) has shared with us images of ‘vennesla library and cultural center’ serving as a spatial connector between an existing community house the design is a direct result of the synergetic coupling of structures manifesting as a series of gradually shifting ribs that provide structure in addition to furniture and storage for technical devices image © emile ashley (also main image) / all images courtesy helen & hard focusing on creating an inviting public domain the library brings the city life into and through the building a large glass facade serves as an open interface between the interior and the city’s main square while an urban loggia provides sheltered outdoor seating for visitors in order to reduce the energy needs of all three buildings two long facades of the existing structures were used to minimize on total surface of the exterior walls floors and roof have been equipped with high-standard energy solutions image © emile ashley happening now! partnering with antonio citterio, AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function, but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style, context, and personal expression. and hushed whispers of the traditional library in favor of a dramatic multi-story “living room” where patrons could and municipalities who have re-conceptualized the contemporary public library with a more nuanced and promising vision we must turn our attentions away from noisy Seattle and other large projects toward the modest community library a handful of innovative architects are forging a new building type with a deceptively familiar name These libraries offer something found nowhere else in the contemporary city: heavily used not-for-profit communal spaces that facilitate many and various kinds of informal social interactions and private uses Ranging in size from five thousand square feet some of these community libraries are neighborhood branches of an urban library system, and others stand alone These buildings look nothing like one another yet they all offer exemplary moments of architectural innovation they make the case that excellent design is no luxury certainly not for the civic buildings and lives of people and their communities Community libraries have been around for centuries but recognized in them the means to socialize the cost of knowledge building nearly 1,700 public libraries across the United States in twenty-eight years local philanthropists built countless others recognizing that the community library was often the only place to which people had sustained and repeated access simply by virtue of their residence to become officially recognized as a borrower at your local library no more than a recent electric bill is needed—no passport To use the library to sit and read and rest you need only to want to sit and read and rest when local libraries were proud repositories for and symbols of humanity’s accumulated knowledge the public goods that community libraries offered were books and consequently their architectural arrangement was straightforward they were typically loft-like spaces with strong floors they had a single point of entry (enabling staff to monitor the comings and goings of books and their users) natural light that fell on users and not on printed matter Any number of architectural styles could convey the dignified solemnity befitting a civic icon generation after generation: libraries were built and people knew that secreted within their walls a lifetime of glories awaited them in pictures and in words What differentiates today’s community library from its precedents—what makes it a wholly new building type in form and conception albeit one with a deceptively familiar name—is the variety of public goods that it contains and the variety of ways those goods are used by people as individuals and collectives People today rely on their community library for so very many things Immigrants attend English-as-a-second-language classes there or just escape social isolation without paying for that right at the local mall Retirees get to the classics they have long deferred Bootstrap community organizations stage art shows offer what no other contemporary building type provides: vibrant non-commercial community places where people of any age and can obtain access to resources vital to full participation in contemporary life This creates an engagingly complex architectural challenge as the community library presents many competing mandates that are difficult to resolve in built form To become a lively centrifugal social force that can buttress or constitute a neighborhood’s sense of identity it must project the impression that it is a civic icon and a public place And yet it must also offer people opportunities to engage in solitary pursuits Today’s community library might well be a place where one can eat and play chess but it must not be a place to yell; it must still offer private moments in communal places the knowledge and the creativity of human expression How to distill such competing if not colliding imperatives—public Even though technically all that a community library actually needs is enclosed inert edifice convey to people that it embraces all comers and embodies their community’s shared identity Many of the new library designs are loft-like spaces writ monumental but they are much more than warehouses for computers they take their cues from the needs of people in general and community library patrons in particular: the neighborhood’s scale people’s innate receptivity to natural light their tactile sensitivity and associative responsiveness to materials feet) both create local landmarks from single-story sheds by topping out with distinctive roofs supported by columnar supports that create grandly scaled but inviting exterior porticoes and establish repetitive rhythms that play counterpoint to irregularly composed indoor volumes The Ballard Library’s roof dramatically sweeps upward at one end its wood purlins visually continuing an outward upward trajectory beyond the walls’ solid planes It articulates the main components of the building’s basic structure It imbues the building with a sense of movement and dynamism The roof’s uneven curve visually and spatially differentiates the library from the neighborhood service center at the other And the exposed wood purlins symbolically refer to the lush a sustainable tangle of weeds and grasses visible from various angles at the street level When Louis Kahn, one of America’s greatest architects, designed a library for Phillips Exeter Academy in 1965 he set about the task by probing the institution itself What is the essence of one’s experience there He came up with a simple image of an answer: a library begins when “a man with a book goes to light.” Ingleside and Ballard both abide by Kahn’s dictum that the library’s central experiential conceit must always be the peaceful world we inhabit when we bring a book and window-walls to draw abundant natural light into and through their projects Ingleside and Ballard’s portico-shed solution has its shortcomings Their exteriors are just a hair more than sufficiently iconic and their interiors a hair more than generic these buildings could easily have failed to become distinctive landmarks An alternative approach is evident in MVRDV’s striking glass barn of a Book Mountain in Rotterdam and MADA s.p.a.m.’s wave-like ribbony Community Center and Library in Qingpu Book Mountain and Thumb Island are both commanding civic icons but their architects have stretched so far to produce a distinctive form that parts of their buildings suffer from an opposite problem: their interiors pale in comparison with and perhaps were not helped by the aesthetic imperatives of MVRDV’s 110,000-square-foot vitreous Book Mountain plunked astride a major traffic thoroughfare in an underprivileged neighborhood non-reflective skin to advertise and shelter a monumental shelf-lined ramp that spirals into a pyramidal ziggurat and climaxes in a summit of panoramic views abutting hillocks set in a newly made artificial lake Multi-story loft spaces and outdoor terraces fold into one another in a rolling inside-outside landscape of changing perspectives while the sloping green roofs absorb runoff and create an urban garden that the architect envisioned as a place for morning Tai-Chi but their interiors fall short of creating the full range of interior experiences imperative for today’s community library certainly of those in Ingleside and Ballard To create Book Mountain’s conference rooms but this hardly solves the architects’ self-created problem of making a library into one large covered room: one yearns for places to escape like many adventurous (and not so adventurous) Chinese buildings With gross inattention to materials and construction details as though it will soon be begging for renovation fulfill many of the community library’s competing imperatives But they are less effective in grappling with two dimensions that are important in any contemporary building and critical in a civic icon: environmental context and cultural context Since the community library should ideally nurture users’ sense of it as the anchor and symbol of their commonality it must suit locational and cultural particularities and still stand out from its surroundings That is a tough nut to crack—especially as most new community libraries sit in aesthetically inconsequential neighborhoods Across the street from Ingleside is a Chinese bakery and an auto body shop; across from Ballard and surrounding Thumb Island’s lake is a boring run of mid-rise residential blocks to do the other things the community library must do and to make a landmark at once indigenous and distinctive who had just won the commission for the Smithsonian’s new Museum of African American History and Culture (to be completed in 2015), whether he would consider designing two small libraries as part of her overhaul of the city’s many neighborhood branches Already having built two influential community libraries in the impoverished Tower Hamlets section of London called “Idea Stores,” he replied that he was “super interested.” This commission was not small Gregory Neighborhood Library and William O and Helen & Hard’s Vennesla Library and Cultural Center all under twenty-five thousand square feet deal skillfully with the issues variously raised and partly resolved in the libraries in Seattle They draw in natural light and orchestrate it to prevent strained eyes Noisy spaces are separated from quiet (or at least quieter) ones sometimes merely impressive compositions of materials and carefully executed details they respectfully convey a sense of dignity to their citizen-users Adjaye and Helen & Hard also interpret subtly their sites’ urban and cultural contexts without retrograde historicism or unthinking populism: they make of this humble municipal building an arena for social interaction a distinctive civic icon that helps users build a sense of common identity and Vennesla sites range from the merely ordinary to the eye-smartingly banal Adjaye is so attuned to the nuances of urban context that one might be hard pressed to identify them as the work of one designer Francis Gregory presents a single monolithic volume Bellevue an irregular accretion of concrete pavilions overgrown public park across the way from a pedestrian array of small neo-Georgian houses Down the street an Exxon station faces a strip of formaldehyde-reeking storefronts—a manicure shop The neighborhood’s only distinctive feature so he developed his concept from that element designing a glass box woven from a triangulated steel frame with an irregular structure that echoes the park’s happenstance foliage and scrub growth Even the main lobby’s double-height ceiling is glass-clad This is a building one must see in person to understand as photographs exaggerate its anomalous monumentality wood-mullioned diamonds alternate with opaque mirrored ones that reflect the surrounding landscape’s greens and blues At night the beacon shines a bright light through the neighborhood. The steeply sloping site of the Bellevue Library did not even offer the inspiration of a park: the nearby main drag is all auto body shops and check-cashing stores Immediately adjacent is a concatenation of low-slung commercial buildings and modest brick and wooden houses some with stilted lean-tos slouching into their rear ends Their elevated post and lintel structure became the design conceit; evenly spaced vertical wooden slats and differently sized elevated pavilions create sheltered outdoor areas for residents to congregate Of the interiors of Adjaye’s two libraries drawing users up a lemon yellow staircase and a long well-proportioned reading room and stacks on the third floor mostly inexpensive materials are deployed with rigor and finesse Francis Gregory’s elongated glass diamonds are thickened inside with stained wooden planks that warm incoming light and offer places for users to nestle in Helen & Hard’s Vennesla project reveals that they are more than equal to the many competing social and aesthetic challenges posed by today’s community library possess the vision and the talent to make of this small and unpromising building type a lively When their Vennesla Library opened last year The Huffington Post published a slideshow of photographs with the headline “the most beautiful library in the world?” That’s overstating it—at least as long as Henri Labrouste’s Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and Louis Kahn’s Exeter Library still stand—but this community library is a stunner Located on a pedestrian-heavy street near Vennesla’s town center the library stretches between an existing cinema and a small office block you catch changing glimpses of the light-filled ebulliently wooden rib-vaulted space within Norway has a nearly unbroken tradition of architectural innovation in wood from its fascinating medieval stave churches to its many woody interpretations of Scandinavian modernism Stavanger (where Helen & Hard maintain an office) celebrates its unusually large stock of well-preserved eighteenth-century wooden houses. Entering the Vennesla library’s vaulted interior as if you were standing in a small light-drenched nave or perhaps beneath the inverted shell of one of Norway’s many large wooden boats The ceiling’s ribs progressively lengthen in span as the spacing between them contracts establishing a quickening rhythm to your spatial procession that crescendos as the room cranks forty-five degrees to the south a moment also marked by a change in floor level These wooden ribs serve many functions: structurally they support the roof and act as columnar supports for the walls; practically and aesthetically The greatest surprise comes as the ribs curve in toward the floor where they become all manner of useful things: shelves These architects and buildings create a distinctive social experience that only a community library can offer They insist upon the importance of both meaningful social interaction and silence in a cacophonous world They nudge local residents toward a resonant sense of communal identity They look less to the past than to the present and future The best ones insist upon the social importance of innovative and the best of the best demonstrate the importance of contextual specificity actively contributes to the vitality of the public realm This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page libraries are still needed to access materials humans have collected writings in storehouses called libraries most universities and large cities have impressive physical libraries Let’s see how Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group is building cutting-edge libraries for the future Fitting a library inside a giant shopping, entertainment and convention complex is a creative challenge, and that’s exactly what was achieved in Seoul, Korea, with the Starfield Library inside COEX Mall. Its tall bookshelves and wide open space has made it a tourist attraction Most recently, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library opened in Dubai in 2022 It has a unique design with a roof that resembles a tome lying open on a bookstand Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group builds up-to-date modern libraries with a total floor space of 33,429 square meters This new building adds to the Central Library and is connected to it Yonsei’s Samsung Library has some special features Samsung C&T E&C Group used open-joint external cladding on the exterior stonework to prevent rain staining the façade the curtain wall is made of transparent glass Low-emissivity (low-e) double-glazing is used to insulate the windows and to block infra-red radiation a climate control system maintains temperatures between 22-25 degrees Celsius and humidity between 45 and 55% to prevent paper from deteriorating quickly Another example is Sungkyunkwan University’s Samsung Library, opened in 2009. With 7 stories above ground and 2 below, it has a total floor space of 23,742 square meters and was built by Samsung C&T E&C Group using building information modeling (BIM) The glass-covered exterior lets in a lot of natural light curved roof on multiple levels looks pleasing to the eye The library holds 700,000 books but also many computers and monitors on which to read electronic materials the high ceiling and large windows create a well-ventilated and well-lit space for studying There are also spaces for group work and break rooms some built in such a way that they appear to hang in mid-air From reserving a workroom or extending a book loan every function of the library can be accessed and controlled digitally There are some things to keep in mind when constructing a library building. A single book or piece of paper is light, but when accumulated, they quickly become heavy. This is why old libraries sometimes have to reinforce their floors to house their growing collections consideration is given not just to the current collection size Thirdly, for the optimal reading environment, a reading room must be well-lit and well-ventilated, to prevent eye strain and drowsiness. While modern buildings allow lots of natural light in, older libraries have lighting systems that need upgrading and air conditioner systems that need replacing Finally, new libraries are not just about books; they need information technology infrastructure too, for example computer terminals and high-speed internet. ICT technology is now an integral part of modern library design In our modern world, libraries are not disappearing – people still need them The Samsung C&T E&C Group excels not only in housing but also in the creation of public spaces such as libraries which contribute to improving the quality of life for modern people As Ramadan draws to a close and Eid al-Fitr approaches Syrian refugees in Europe seek community and renew traditions while missing the atmosphere and flavors of holidays past PARIS — Noureddine Mukheiber’s first Ramadan in France is drawing to a close and he is preparing for an Eid al-Fitr holiday unlike all those that came before “far from gathering friends and the joy of the holidays” in Syria and came to France with his wife and two children They were moved to temporary housing in Épinal to live there until asylum procedures are completed Being hundreds of kilometers away from my friends in this country made the Ramadan month of fasting more difficult Ever since he was displaced from Moadamiyet al-Sham Mukheiber has been unable to “come together with family” for iftar the evening meal breaking the holy month’s day-long fasts the presence of friends and the atmosphere of Ramadan and Eid there as well as “online contact with my father and mother” was enough to comfort him Syrians are spread across Europe, which hosts more than one million Syrian refugees There are also longstanding Arab Muslim communities But this does not replace the atmosphere and joys of Ramadan and Eids spent in Syria Families try to create a special atmosphere and connect with their heritage but Ramadan and Eid rituals remain “cold,” said Haya Tourkou a Syrian refugee from the western Reef Dimashq town of Qudsayya who has been living in Kristiansand works at a kindergarten in southern Norway like those we were used to in our country,” she said “being in the workplace with friends who don’t know about your fast and what is special about this month for you as a Muslim makes you sense the lack of collective support,” she said She remembers the joy of Ramadan and Eid in Syria and the “family tables.” In an attempt to make up for this atmosphere hoping to compensate for the absence of family and create a Ramadan atmosphere,” she said But everything she creates far from home “is not equal to the presence of family.” Tourkou has started to prepare for Eid al-Fitr which falls at the beginning of May this year by “decorating the house and making Eid maamoul,” crumbly She is also overseeing community initiatives for Eid including “renting a hall with toys for the children and preparing a menu of food and sweets to celebrate.” Tourkou leads the administration of her city’s mosque the Ramadan atmosphere this year was limited to “some pictures and imsakiyat [schedules with prayer and fasting times] hanging in Arab and Turkish shops.” Other than that “I haven’t felt any Ramadan atmosphere,” he said Although he and his family have Arab neighbors in their building it is “hard to get involved in community activities before you are more engaged in the host community.” Ramadan and Eid are intertwined with certain foods and sweets “such as naeem [crispy bread with date or grape molasses] maarouk [sweet bread stuffed with dates] and erk sous [a dark bittersweet drink made from licorice root],” Tourkou said especially in Norway “since the number of Syrians is lower than in Germany and France.” She prepares some foods at home to evoke the Ramadan atmosphere making use of “raw materials from Arab and Turkish shops.” But it is not like “the feeling of buying them from Damascus markets,” she said the enjoyment of food linked to the place In contrast to Tourkou and Mukheiber’s experiences has been fortunate in his home’s location near “Arab Street,” as Sonnenallee Street in Berlin’s southeastern Neukölln district is known “It lessened the harshness of absence,” he said comparing the street to “a piece of Damascus where Syrian shops offer delicious Damascene foods and sweets.” who is originally from the city of al-Qusayr he has started planning “to organize youth activities trips and visits for Syrian families on the days of Eid.” feelings of alienation flared up within Mukheiber as if he had arrived in France only days before except for some routine procedures related to asylum documents we feel more psychological pressure than at any other time,” he said Remembering the first Ramadan he spent in Germany Jalas said it was “one of the hardest feelings,” as he was new to the place and wasn’t able to form relationships with people from the host country because of the language barrier,” he said “Our first Ramadan in Norway was very difficult and our activities were limited to those inside the home,” she said “we got to know many Muslim families here” and participated in activities with them on such occasions This year’s Ramadan has been special for Tourkou “in terms of the community initiatives,” she said “Most religious centers in Norway organized group iftars two or three times this month which added a wonderful atmosphere.” In recent years holding such iftars was impossible “due to the COVID-19 closures and iftar being late as the Maghrib call to prayer was at ten o’clock at night,” she said Tourkou has gone from benefiting from Ramadan initiatives to helping organize them she helped “organize group iftar meetings for Syrian and Norwegian women.” The general climate in Norway has helped Tourkou adapt The Norwegian government readily funds Ramadan activities “Norwegian society treats Muslim community events with familiarity and each year Norwegian television covers the activities of the first days of Eid al-Fitr.” The television program Good Morning Norway hosts Muslim personalities “to prepare food on screen and they showed a picture of me with my family in one of the program’s episodes,” she said In addition to that, “there is a mosque in every municipality in Norway, and each mosque has its own initiatives and celebrations,” Tourkou said. But the biggest Eid celebrations this year are in the capital Oslo, where an “Eid for All” celebration is to be held on May 2 in City Hall Square with the Norwegian Prime Minister and Oslo’s Deputy Mayor scheduled to speak Mukheiber is still struggling to acclimate to his new life in France but he is working to create an environment in which his five-year-old son Dani can feel the atmosphere of Ramadan and the joy of Eid Dani made “the house decorations himself.” This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to telling Syrian stories and training Syrian journalists Contact Us Support original reporting on Syria by donating to Syria Direct so our team of Syrian and international journalists can continue bringing you the stories that matter from on the ground inside Syria Donate Here The information on this page is intended for journalists If you click NO you will come back to Mynewsdesk.com Wandering the streets of Norwegians cities and towns can give you unexpected and extraordinary architectonical experiences Sometimes due to the increasing number of public libraries built and renovated The newest addition to the collection of stunning libraries is the Deichman Bjørvika. On August 19th, 2021, it earned the The Public Library of the Year award by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) for how it "combines environmental awareness with architectural flair" and "how libraries can function as institutions that bring people together in towns The doors of the Oslo Public Library (Deichman) in Bjørvika in Oslo opened in 2020 and there is no doubt that this is a library out of the ordinary The offers range from a restaurant and cinema to digital workshops Visit Norway has gathered a sample of some great libraries that are spread all over the country from Tromsø in the North to Vennesla in the South please don’t forget to ask for the nearest public library whilst visiting Norway 1. Stormen Library, BodøThanks to its grand glass façade and the view of the harbour, entering Stormen in Bodø feels like walking into a literary cathedral The building is signed by DRDH Architects (England) and both the library and its matching concert hall have helped them win a number of prizes The Norwegian Library Association awarded Stormen “Library of the year 2018” the library hosted more than 650 different events and activities 2. Tromsø Library and City ArchivesBoth locals and visitors are drawn to the library and city archives, a lively literary centre in the middle of Tromsø The uniquely constructed ceiling dates back to the days when the building was home to Fokus Cinema The library stands out because of its large number of exciting projects and activities Considering how some people tend to be too hot or too cold the library has set different temperatures on different floors to make sure all visitors can enjoy their reading Vennesla Library and Culture HallOne of our most highly acclaimed libraries is located in Vennesla it has been an important arena for concerts The peculiar architecture of Vennesla Library and Cultural Hall is the result of the drawings by Helen & Hard AS who have won several prizes because of it The library has been titled the fourth most stunning library in the world by The Huffington Post and also been described as one of the world’s top 10 most magnificent libraries the adults have to wait outside while the kids and young adults – aged 10 to 15 – get to bask in the wide collection of books and activities The library opened in 2016 and contains all sorts of facilities from a study room and a computer lab for programming and various workshops are just some of the countless activities the kids get to enjoy here 5. Future Library, OsloThe Future Library is an art project by the Scottish artist Katie Paterson on commission from Bjørvika Utvikling The objective is to collect one original text by a new author every year between 2014 and 2114 The texts will be sealed away in a specially made room in the new public library in Bjørvika 1,000 trees have been planted in the Nordmarka forest in Oslo to provide printing paper for the texts Visit Norway is Norway's official tourism board Norway is the place to experience the magical northern lights and the midnight sun above the Arctic Circle or world-famous fjords surrounded by spectacular mountains and glaciers travellers can enjoy local food and culture in vibrant cities like Oslo For best advice on Norway, click on www.visitnorway.com Preliminary enquiries about professional assistance can be sent by filling out our media form on https://business.visitnorway.c... All PR and press activities and enquiries are handled by our main office in Oslo When you choose to create a user account and follow a newsroom your personal data will be used by us and the owner of the newsroom for you to receive news and updates according to your subscription settings To learn more about this, please read our Privacy Policy, which applies to our use of your personal data, and our Privacy Policy for Contacts which applies to the use of your personal data by the owner of the newsroom you follow Please note that our Terms of Use apply to all use of our services You can withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing or deleting your account 'Without libraries we have no past and no future,' said Ray Bradbury A new book celebrates the most innovative library buildings • A sneak peek inside the restored Manchester central library • Libraries is published by Roads.co • A sneak peek inside the restored Manchester central library • Libraries is published by Roads.co Reynaers’ aluminium extended Concept Wall 50 system offers design freedom as well as maximum transparency and superb thermal efficiency Reynaers has extended its popular Concept Wall 50 system to offer innovative solutions for heavier glass weights easier and quicker assembly and installation plus improved energy efficiency and more sophisticated profile connections With key benefits of huge weight tolerances outstanding thermal efficiency and custom made design the range ensures architects are no longer bound to traditional grid patterns, giving maximum flexibility in curtain wall design Reynaers' latest projects showcase the breadth of possibility The Concept Wall system features an extensive range of profiles so that a wealth of constructions can be created. Offering extensive design freedom, the system can be custom designed with extraordinary variation, as seen in the staggered system used for Knowledge Centre Arhus an impressive office complex and city library in Belgium Profiles can be connected in an infinite number of staggered levels and a unique overlap method provides perfect performance in terms of water and air tightness (up to 1200 Pa) This gives architects new creativity in facade design: the division and coupling of glass surfaces is unlimited and the integration of diagonal lines is much easier to achieve It is perfectly suited for much larger panes and for triple glazing which provides environmentally efficient buildings with more light than ever before Maximum glass thickness can now measure up to 61mm and the new CW 50 system can carry a maximum weight of 700kg specific bespoke solutions are no longer required for such massive glass panels Various opening types can be seamlessly integrated within the CW 50. These include the top hung window, parallel opening windows, hidden vent turn and tilt windows and flush roof vents for integration in roof applications, as seen in the UK's recent Jersey Esplanade project The CW 50’s design variants offer curtain walls for both the exterior and the interior of the building and its glazing variants range from standard pressure plates structurally glazed and structurally clamped facades For more information and technical support visit: reynaers.co.uk reynaersltd@reynaers.com updates and our weekly newsletter – all designed to bring you the best stories from RIBAJ.com And when their governments put money toward them A 2012 report by the Institute of Museum and Library Services found that when investment in libraries drops But the inverse was also true; the more public funds libraries receive Perhaps that’s because a good library is more than a repository for books—it’s a community resource It may also explain the recent spate of high-design libraries (and bookstores) popping up around the globe Many of them function not just as singular temples to the written word All of them are works of art in themselves The Dokk1 library recently won the prize for best public library of 2016 The building is made from a stack of polygons with windows that overlook the city’s harbor artistic bonus: The bell that hangs above the central staircase is connected to the local hospital—it rings every time a child is born Lawrence’s new library has the bones of its old architects at Gould Evans recently gutted the library and renovated it to be more modern and tech-forward the architects realized people naturally gathered in the locations with the most natural lighting This led to them to create reading room with floor-to-ceiling windows Walking into the Yangzhou Zhangshuge bookstore in Zhen Yuan China is like walking through a river filled with books The architects say that’s intentional; the building is supposed to evoke the feeling of water which reflect onto the dark mirrored floor The Beyazit State Library in Istanbul isn’t a new building and served as a soup kitchen and inn before it became the state library in the late 19th century Turkish architecture studio Tabanlioglu Architects recently renovated the space preserving its bones while adding minimalist modern touches like tinted glass boxes that hold rare manuscripts Norway’s Vennesla library looks like a portal to outer space A series of 27 arching ribs hugs the ceiling Each rib has an integrated light that lends the cream interior and ethereal glow while the base of the beam flows into a reading nook Each rib contains sound absorbing materials to ensure the space is extra quiet The new Bodø Public Library in Norway is also a cultural center featuring a three-auditorium concert hall in addition to its 68,000-square feet of dedicated reading space The white concrete building sits on the plot of a former bus station and a row of floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto the city’s harbour Chicago’s new Chinatown library branch has no sharp edges The pebble-shaped building is wrapped in glass and marked by solar-shading fins that are meant to reduce heat and glare three-sided shape is built around feng shui principles and designed to align with the avenues outside the building the two-story structure is centered around a light-filled atrium the Birmingham library in England looks like a brutalist structure wrapped in metal lace But the building’s vast interior—it’s 312,000 square feet—is filled with bright primary colors and clean lines The building is home to more than 400,000 books housed on multiple floors each of which features a cantilevered balcony overlooking a “book rotunda.” Halifax’s flagship library (there are 13 others) is 156,000-square feet of imposingly piled glass and cantilever to create a stunning building block effect On top of the building is a rooftop garden for enjoying warm Nova Scotia summers the library’s reading room converts to a concert hall Mexican design studio Anagrama designed a cozy reading nook inside this Monterrey bookstore to encourage visitors to linger and read The sea foam blue walls shine through a latticed wood bookshelf that turns the space into a brightly colored cocoon while padded seats on either side afford comfortable reading spots This story originally appeared on WIRED GQ India | VOGUE India | Condé Nast Traveller India culture is what gives each group of people around the world a unique identity it adds flavor to our lives and enriches our souls so it is no wonder thatour cultural institutions usually end up resembling this with buildings that are designed for the interchange of knowledge literatureand every other aspect that gives a society character creating architectural momentsthat perhaps have never been seen before and almost always leaving a lasting impression with their iconic nature 1. ‘louvre-lens museum’ by SANAA + imrey culbert maintaining the openness of the once mine works site the 28,000 square meter building has been broken into smaller spaces to follow the gradual grade changes of the terrain glass-enclosed galleries open perspectives across the grounds using transparency to create cross views through public spaces ‘louvre-lens museum’ by SANAA + imrey culbert + catherine mosbach 2. ‘vennesla library and cultural center’ by helen and hard ‘vennesla library and cultural centre’ by helen & hard in vennesla 3. ‘enzo ferrari museum’ by future systems dedicated to motor racing legend and entrepreneur enzo ferrari (1898 – 1988) the museum comprises exhibition spaces within the early nineteenth century house where the motor racing giant was born and raised ‘enzo ferrari museum’ by jan kaplicky and andrea morgante 4. ‘cantina antinori winery’ by archea associati the winery is set into the contours of the land as two horizontal cuts made from large planes of concrete framing views and paying homage to the site and topped with one of its own vineyards; an exploration between man ‘cantina antinori’ by archea associati 5. ‘parrish art museum’ by herzog & de meuron the first art museum built on the east end of long island in more than a century the modestly designed steel and wood frame section measuring 29 meters wide extruded to an astounding 187 meters long relying on the quality of light and immensity of space to define the exhibition space’s character covering 34,400-square-feet ‘parrish art museum’ by herzog & de meuron 6. ‘chateau cheval blanc winery’ by christian de portzamparc also known as ‘the winery under the hill’ the new establishment is located under a massive sweeping structure with a rooftop garden and is always visually and spatially connected to the rows of grapevines ‘chateau cheval blanc’ by christian de portzamparc 7. ‘book mountain + library quarter’ by MVRDV rotterdam-based MVRDV has just completed the ‘book mountain + library quarter’ centrally located in the market square of spijkenisse a mountain of bookshelves is contained by a glass-enclosed structure and pyramidal roof with an impressive total surface area of 9,300 square meters ‘book mountain + library quarter’ by MVRDV 8. ‘fabrica moritz barcelona’ by jean nouvel the restoration of a 19th century brewery in barcelona would both convert the dilapidating building into a material representation of its historical significance and create a community treasure centered around design ‘fabrica moritz brewery’ by jean nouvel 9. ’12th serpentine pavilion’ by herzog & de meuron and ai wei wei a plane of water is now floating above the lawn of the serpentine gallery in london inviting visitors to pass beneath it and observe the recently exposed components of the past structures eleven columns representing each of the previous editions elevate the roof plane 1.4 meters from the excavated ground while an additional support stands for the current construct 10. ‘japan national stadium’ by zaha hadid the elevated ground connections of zaha hadid’s structure will govern the flow of people through the site while also effectively carving the geometric forms of the building enhancing and modulating visitors around the stadium via different directions and points of access zaha hadid’s winning design for the new national stadium japan see designboom’s TOP TEN institutional + cultural 2011 and accessible collections of books (plus magazines they’re powerful institutions that enrich minds and spread knowledge amongst the masses While all libraries are important incubators to foster learning some are also visually stunning to experience—featuring centuries-old frescoes and innovative designs that make studying and borrowing texts all the more enjoyable we’ve rounded up eight of the world’s most striking public libraries the Klementinum is home to the Czech Republic’s national public library within a vast building complex on Old Town Square a hall so called for its curvaceous architecture and fantastical decor that has gone untouched since it was first built in 1722 Perhaps its most striking feature is a series of 18th-century ceiling frescoes by Czech artist Jan Hiebel depicting the disciplines of art and science along with a collection of massive globes running through the center Beyond the extraordinary Baroque Library—which contains 20,000 books—the entire institution of the Klementinum houses over 6 million titles When one thinks of the New York Public Library this particular branch likely comes to mind The city’s massive flagship library on Fifth Avenue was originally designed by architects John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings The pair is not only responsible for the building’s marble facade making the entire library a gleaming example of the neoclassical Beaux-Arts style The library’s iconic Rose Reading Room boasts an ornate ceiling featuring lush murals of an opening sky which appear ever more vibrant after undergoing restoration that concluded in 2016 The Schwarzman library is also known for its two marble lions who have flanked either side of the main entrance on Fifth Avenue since it opened its doors in 1911 and are now emblematic of the city’s vast public library system This unique library was established as an homage to its namesake which was destroyed by fire sometime between 48 B.C.E With a goal to “recapture the spirit of openness and scholarship” of its ancient predecessor—one of the largest libraries in antiquity housing thousands of precious scrolls —the New Library of Alexandria can hold up to 8 million books and receives nearly 1 million visitors a year Located steps from the shore of the Mediterranean Sea circular building gradually rises out of the ground at an angle as if it were emerging from the ashes of its biblio-ancestor While the library’s exterior lacks traditional windows a striking skylight system floods its huge the New Library also includes a number of art galleries Though it’s one of the most recent institutions on this list the Vennesla Library in southern Norway is already revered for its striking modern design winning accolades such as the 2012 Byggeskikkpris award a state prize for architectural achievement Twenty-seven wooden ribs act as the physical support of the building as well as the internal structure of the bookshelves themselves and much of the library’s blue-cushioned seating The result is a space that blurs the lines between form Architects Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf also incorporated energy-conserving elements into the library-slash-“culture house,” stating that their goal was “to create a sustainable public building both environmentally and socially.” This massive library in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture hosts a collection of roughly 400,000 items contained within a box-shaped concrete-and-glass structure created by Hiroshi Horiba and Kazumi Kudo who together won the 2013 Japan Institute of Architects prize for the design Its exterior is decorated with some 6,000 glass circles that alternate in size making the building’s flatness appear fluid The architects cited the Richelieu branch of the French National Library (also on this list) as an influence due to its singular which Horiba and Kudo emulated in the library’s entire first floor (despite it being rectangular) The rest of the building consists of meeting spaces “What we wanted to do…was design a certain ‘atmosphere’ for books and reading,” the architects stated upon the library’s opening They hoped to create an innovative space that “encourages readers to stay and linger,” rather than simply a one-stop shop for borrowing books France’s national public library system is truly historic having been founded by King Charles V in 1368; coincidentally this particular location on the Rue de Richelieu The Richelieu library is dominated by its enormous central reading space called the “Oval Room,” which was constructed between 1875 and 1932 by academic architect Jean-Louis Pascal following the death of the library’s original designer As the name suggests, Pascal added a rounded room that boasts curved, five-story-high walls brimming with bookshelves, and multiple round skylights that project light throughout. The library also houses an impressive collection of historic French artworks, including original ilustrations by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and 16th-century maps of Paris Full disclosure: This isn’t your average public library What was formerly a derelict space within a century-old building in one of Bangkok’s most impoverished districts is now home to a unique community library The space is complete with a lofted study zone and a central reading room that has an assortment of colorful cube-shaped shelves filled with books the Min Buri Old Market Library is the result of a collaboration between TYIN tegnestue architects and the Thailand-based CASE architecture studio The two teams took a largely environmental approach to the small library’s design using as many local and reused materials as possible (such as recycled wood for the structural cladding) They incorporated sun-loving skylights and placed large potted plants throughout The Min Buri Library is not only an attractive design-forward space that’d be perfect for curling up with a book it’s also beneficial for the largely impoverished neighborhood are [often] left out of social and humanitarian support systems,” wrote TYIN in a statement upon the library’s opening “[Our] aim…is to strengthen the passion in the neighborhood that eventually can contribute to a positive development in the area.” While it only opened as a public library less than 50 years ago the Biblioteca Miguel Lerdo de Tejada—named after a famed Mexican statesman—is located within a former 18th-century chapel in Mexico City’s historic district and a massive rounded wooden door that welcomes visitors the age-old essence of the facade transforms into a vibrant central reading space that’s illuminated by a grid of overhead lights the library is mainly used for economic research as it holds over 100,000 titles on the subject.