All work
Vlietzicht Public Library
A library organised as one continuous reading terrace, so the building explains itself the moment you walk in.
Client
Gemeente Delft
Location
Delft, NL
Year
2023
Area
3,100 m²
Typology
Cultural
Status
Completed
Delft needed a library that would work for a population that had stopped borrowing books and started borrowing space. The old branch was a series of closed rooms nobody could find their way through.
We made the whole building one reading terrace, stepping up in six half-levels from the entrance. You can see the top of the building from the door, which means you never need a sign to know where you are.
Books line the outer wall. The centre is left free, because the centre is what gets rebooked.
Opened 2023. Visits are up 64% on the previous branch, and the building is used for 31 non-library public events a year — the number the council hoped for by 2028.
Plates
Structural engineer: IMd · Contractor: BAM · Photography: Studio de Nooyer
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