Grosuplje Municipal Library

The new city library is the result of a winning project in a public competition. Of all the competition options submitted, we were the only one to propose a solution that would enlarge the relatively modest library expansion programme to such an extent that the extension and the original listed building would create balance and spatial proportion. The necessary siting of the new part of the library in a distinctly courtyard-like, almost secondary area of the building plot leads to challenging spatial relationships between the dominant street, courtyard, and the undefined surrounding space of the nearby apartment buildings. The choice of a basic form of spatial “accordion”, opening clearly towards the street and closing discreetly towards the flats, also ensures good structural support for a uniform envelope that covers the internal spaces of the library in a uniform range.

The existing Adamić House is one of the oldest buildings in Grosuplje, and is located in an area of the town that has been greatly transformed and developed over the last 50 years. The historical context is lost, the old building acts as an artistic loner among layers of different architectural decades.

The movement between the mezzanines, from level to level, from the ground floor to the top of the building, follows the idea of a folding movement through the same space over and over again. Ascending through space is an allegory of turning the pages of a book and delving into its contents. The central space of the new pavilion is a large reading room on the first floor. Its width and height far exceed the size of other comparable public spaces in the city, giving it the character of an urban living room where citizens meet and socialise while reading the daily newspaper.

The relocation of the vast majority of the library’s material to the new extension frees up enough space in the old building to accommodate a memory room, a home history collection, a small multi-purpose hall for music and literary events, a café on the ground floor and staff quarters in the open attic.

The ambiguity between the old and the new building is triggered by the use of similar roofing and façade materials, the geometry of the pitched and hipped roofs, and the overall dimensions of the two buildings, which are in fact almost identical in width, length and height. At the same time, the function of the extension is also to establish a contextual and artistic distance by means of a strong visual contrast to the otherwise urban context, and to provide the Adamić building with a much-needed neutral framework. This emphasises its historical value and relieves it of surrounding contradictions.

Authors of the project: BLENKUŠ Matej, FLORIJANČIČ Miloš