Competition of ideas for the construction of the new Sant Gervasi Library within the Muñoz Ramonet house complex in Barcelona. Reading near trees is not an experience that urban libraries can easily incorporate into their programs. The Sant Gervasi-Galvany library is privileged to be able to do so. The garden of Jean Claude N. Forestier represents a unique opportunity to achieve this and, in addition, to enrich the experience by knowing first-hand the work of a widely recognized landscape architect.
The new library must be located in the building annexed to the main house and in a new extension, mainly underground, with the main premise of maintaining the current level of the surrounding gardens and their original configuration.
These new floors are articulated through a patio that is generated from the translation of the geometry of the existing pool, as if it had levitated one floor below the current level, so that light freely enters the interior of the new lower rooms. This arrangement of the openings also allows for natural ventilation of the lower spaces, which complements the center’s air conditioning. The floor of the swimming pool on the ground floor is made of glass and allows light to enter the lower level.
The garden-building binomial in the trees is constituted in a true public space equipped for knowledge that gives added value to the Sant Gervasi-Galvany library and makes it unique, to subtly highlight it from the street without imposing itself on either the values of the garden or those of the existing buildings.
