PRAGUE NATIONAL LIBRARY

The library project is located within the boundaries of the site area. From the ground, green “pillows” are organized as landscape mounds that isolateninterior program from the street and create external amphitheaters where activities such as reading, concerts, etc. can take place. The pillows support four programmatic cylinders, which wrapped together form a cloud with bays of exterior spaces. The building is organized in four circular towers with an envelope containing lobbies and connections. The four towers are programmed within stacks, reading rooms, offices, and public (cafe + bookshop). The core of each tower, its basic supporting structure, acts as a light tube bringing natural light to the interior spaces. Each tower is designed with its own organizational logic, connections, and an external facade derived from its function. Where programs overlap, the towers are connected with an internal envelope. Each tower has four floors except the main tower, where book stacks are located. This dominating cylinder acts as a core of the building and symbolically shows the heart of the library. An extended terrace with a restaurant takes place on top of the building. The four towers are also the structural elements of the building. Each cylinder acts as a structural frame that supports vertical and horizontal loads. With diagonal elements all around the main cylinder, it acts as a space frame, a very stable construction. For additional stability, the walls of the technical maintenance spaces are load-bearing concrete walls. The horizontal constructions between each floor are composite slabs. Steel girders and concrete slabs make an effective and economic construction in combination with the main vertical construction.