Loïc Maréchal

The location

The Tivoli’s public Library is the last step into a large process of violent mutations of the city of Liège that started in the seventies. The site is located in the city center on the ruins of the old gothic cathedral and between two public places in lack of identity. On one side, the place Saint Lambert - a very popular gathering space and on the other side a cosy place full of trees and many bars’ terraces. The whole site displays expressions very patchy.

The library

The book was once an almost sacred object, it is now totally unmarked. The volume of the building, severe, sculptural, expresses a strong signal of protection and gives a frame back to the adjacent public spaces. There is a second very thin and fragile envelope inside that contains the library spaces. The spaces are organized around a peripheral circulation to a central atrium so that the library is a single entire whole space. “A box in the box”. A variety of windows expands the internal space to pierce the outer skin to target symbolic places of the city of Liège, offering though new specific views. The building is introverted and yet intimately linked to its environment. A variable geometry structure is set up to fully preserve the remains of the cathedral. These are expressed through a system of special columns and a waving ceiling, paying tribute to the Gothic ancestor buried there.

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