Tim Klauser

The evolution of the traditional library into a multimedia “Bibliomed“ asks for a new architectural solutions. More than just providing storage of catalogued media, Bibliomed, being a service centre for information, poses the question of navigation and access. 
Facing the problem of conventional electronic interfaces failing to allow physical and sensual interaction and to provide a transparency of data, my strategy is to design a spatial interface. URBAN INTERFACE develops in response to the existing pier, itself being a link between the old centre of Antwerp and the harbour area. The new architectural interface creates identifiable public space that can be experienced intuitively and invites for participation and exchange. Mediating between Bibliomed’s program and visitor, the roof’s surface is designed as an easy access platform. It offers general information or overview and acts as a first entrance to the information pool. As soon as the visitor steps onto the artificial landscape, it reveals itself as a first layer of information inviting him to explore its three-dimensional topography. As informed attractors inside outs create memorizable locations on the surface. They allow public access and visual communication to the inside of the Bibliomed. Inside the building the first floor acts as the browsing layer. The visitor can either use catalogues or physically browse above the mediastacks organized on the ground floor. Information shows itself as a result of an interactive process. On the ground floor the stacks create an atmosphere of interchange between density in the fields of stacks and clearances for reading around the voids.
Bibliomed´s inner organization allows for an easy shift between “Birdseye-perspective” and “diving-in” to pick specific information. URBAN INTERFACE in that sense makes use of human strategies of navigation and memory as well as of architecture’s ability to produce a physically explorable knowledge spaces.

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