Program: Public Library and Cultural Center

After visiting the building, I thought about those existing qualities that I would like to keep during the renovation; the play of light and shadow, the high-rise spaces or the iconic pillars that modulated its interior. I realized how many pre-existing elements were of classical inspiration, such as the columns, with their abacuses and capitals, or the southern access raised on a platform, with cornices and entablatures. This classical approach, along with the value of the exisiting spatial qualities, remained in my mind when I first started to develop the concept...

The aim of this project is to transform the old warehouse Magasin I, an icon of the Malmö harbour in the past, into a public library and cultural center; understanding it as a place where everyone can share culture and knowledge.

A space with complementary atmospheres is proposed, where light meets darkness, silence defines the private, the crowded characterizes the public and the distribution and ceilings at different heights surprise those who wander through the building. Every space is designed bearing in mind the existing light, orientation and views, but in some cases these attributes have been enhanced by opening the ceiling; as in the bookshelves space, or by changing the materiality in order to distinguish the old from the new.

The idea of creating a cultural place for the citizens and not just a public library, since Malmö already has the Stadsbiblioteket, comes from understanding the entrance to M1 as an agora where people can gather and exchange ideas. The agora, literally 'a gathering place', was a public space in the Ancient Greece and the center of the cultural, political and spiritual life of the city. In this project this place is considered to be the core of the building that holds the spaces together and links them, making possible the communication between different atmospheres and the organization of inner flows of the building.