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.