David Gerard & Grégory Israel

The exercise was to carry out the new national library in Prague (Czech Republic). The site is in periphery of the city and overhangs the historical center. This one is on the one hand in direct relation with a northern park side and on the other hand with an important access southern side which connects the periphery to its center.

The goal of the project is to find one crossing by the building thus allowing a connection pedestrian of the boulevard to the downtown area. Integration in the site enabled us to benefit from the difference in level in order to offer a public space open on two levels like requalifying spaces towards the park. The reading and the sensitivity of the project to the level of the ground floor are proposed by means of four blocks at human scale determining of the zones open and closed with the public. That makes it possible to give again a vision remaining in urban continuity.

On the level of the volumetry of the building, the idea is to preserve in frontage before (side boulevard) a relatively simple side being identified at the environment of the district and a frontage more burst on the park. Side embassies, the volumetry of the building respects the constraints of the site while answering the contiguous gauges.

The library functions per degree of privatization: the more one goes up in the building, the more the zones are controlled:
• rez: space public functioning independently of the library;
• library open to the public;
• last levels: offices and public records (highly supervised spaces).

A puit of light is created in the center of the building in order to offer an additional contribution of light but also of the space and visual relations.

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