Snøhetta’s Calgary Central Library Opens to the Public
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Calgary Central Library, designed by Snohetta, has opened its doors to the public. The Central Library is the city’s largest public investment since the 1988 Olympics, signalling the city’s focus on the creation and innovation of knowledge and culture.SitSnøhetta’s Calgary Central Library Opens to the Public
Calgary Central Library, designed by Snohetta, has opened its doors to the public. The Central Library is the city’s largest public investment since the 1988 Olympics, signalling the city’s focus on the creation and innovation of knowledge and culture.Situated between Downtown Calgary and the East Village, the library reconnects these two neighborhoods. “The building is sited within a complex urban condition, where a fully operational Light Rail Transit line crosses the site from above to below ground on a curved half-moon path, dividing Downtown and East Village. In response, the design terraces over the transit line, lifting the main entry to the heart of the site. Doubling as a portal and a bridge, the entry plaza heals the previously-split seam between the two neighborhoods and re-establishes visual and pedestrian connections across the site,” states the website of Snohetta.Snohetta and DIALOG won the international design competition organized by Calgary Public Library and Calgary Municipal Land Corporation in 2013 to select the architecture and landscape architecture team to realize the Central Library.The Library, which was handed over to Calgary Public Library in September 2018, opened to the public on November 1. The new Central Library joins Studio Bell, the Arts Commons, and the Glenbow Museum as part of a burgeoning cultural campus in downtown Calgary and the East Village.“Calgary Public Library is one of the largest library systems in North America, where more than half of its residents are active cardholders, and accordingly, the new main branch was created for and inspired by its diverse inhabitants,” Snohetta writes.Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the library.http://www.blouinartinfo.com Founder: Louise Blouin Read more