#2002 architecture

[thearchitecturalsite]

Ortner & Ortner, Saxon State and University Library S.L.U.B., Dresden 2002. 'The central challenge of Ortner & Ortner’s competition winning project for the reconstruction and integration of these two previously separate libraries on the Technical University Campus in Dresden was to make the library and the central reading room exceptionally user-friendly. This reading room forms the three storey underground link between the two major five storey pavilions – which means that 70% of the library lies below ground. The design theme which runs through the entire library - from timber and stone cladding, carpeting, steel handrails, glazing and the structural solution – is that of "the book”. This theme is highly visible throughout the building - from the smallest details to the façade design - and is found also in the rich range of materials - from raw concrete and partially visible installations to noble materials in specific areas.' AT.P architects engineers. Photographer Felix Meyer. Flickr 

[thearchitecturalsite]

RCR Arquitectes, Biblioteca San Antoni-Joan Oliver, Barcelona 2002-07. 'Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta have been selected as the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates... The three architects, originating from Olot, in the Catalonian region of Spain, have worked together collaboratively since founding their firm RCR Arquitectes, in their hometown in 1988. Their work demonstrates an unyielding commitment to place and its narrative, to create spaces that are in discourse with their respective contexts. Harmonizing materiality with transparency, Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta seek connections between the exterior and interior, resulting in emotional and experiential architecture.,, Mr. Aranda, Ms. Pigem and Mr. Vilalta represent the first time that three architects together are honored with the prize... The 2017 Pritzker Prize Jury Citation states, in part: “we live in a globalized world where we must rely on international influences, trade, discussion, transactions, etc. But more and more people fear that because of this international influence…we will lose our local values, our local art, and our local customs…Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta tell us that it may be possible to have both. They help us to see, in a most beautiful and poetic way, that the answer to the question is not ‘either/or’ and that we can, at least in architecture, aspire to have both; our roots firmly in place and our arms outstretched to the rest of the world.” More: The Pritzker Architecture Prize  Photographer Ziemowit Cabanek. Flickr