Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli: Public Library of Bressanone - best architects 23 in Gold

Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli

Public Library of Bressanone

best architects 23 in Gold

public buildings

Place

Bressanone, Italy

Photos

Marco Cappelletti

Description

The new public library of Bressanone conceives of itself as a small «social infrastructure» in which old and new are not only inseparable but have a very specific relationship. The peculiarities of the urban context and the needs of a public building open to the community were the starting points for designing a contemporary intervention capable of looking to the future of the city, inserting itself quietly into the urban fabric, and seeking a profound dialogue with the pre-existing structures and the character of the surrounding spaces. Located in the historic centre, on Piazza Duomo, the library is part of a project that included the renovation of the former headquarters of the finance police, the former courthouse, and the former prisons, allowing for the construction of a new building with a redeveloped private garden that once belonged to the Bishop. The complexity of the project with its juxtaposition of new and pre-existing structures generates a tension between the parts that define its plasticity and ambiguous character. The interior spaces manifest themselves as exteriors and vice versa, in a place where space and light play a fundamental role in creating a degree of ambivalence between «collective» and «domestic». This architecture is more than just a library: it is a social driver designed to welcome and generate human relations, exchanges and the interweaving of different cultures, practices and ages.