Competition in Czechia: the municipal library in Česká Lípa

GRAS submitted a competition proposal for the new municipal library building in Česká Lípa, Czechia.

The ultimate function of a library is in question. More and more it is a place to connect with each other, transforming itself into a new social platform with knowledge in its centre. The proposal seeks to write a story about the place and its two historical structures co-occupying the site. One of the last fragments of the fortification wall left in the city runs through the site forming the main entry to the new library. The proposed building complements the existing architecture and tries to create a unified whole with it. Both in proportion and scale, and in the morphology used. The design works with rhythmically repeating symmetrical gable roofs and the massive mass of the buildings. Behind this heavy skin opens a new world filled with light from above and carefully framed views back towards the town showing it from new perspectives.

Project Team: Jan Hájek, Antonín Hůla, Martin Sekac, Jan Mutl
Visuals by Michal Slusar