The Lindköpings library
The Linköpings library
Linköping’s major national library is a building that with its size, appearance and function has found its place both in the city and in the hearts of the city’s residents. It is the Royal Park’s most vibrant and open building, with lots of human presence and activities in an otherwise relatively quiet and dark part of the park.
The new library has demanding neighbours. On the one side you have a row of 1970-style district government buildings that close off parts of the western part of the park, and a bit further away you find Linköping’s magnificent and more than 800-year old cathedral. Right next to the church is Linköping’s castle, the oldest, non-ecclesiastical building in Sweden and just as old as the cathedral.
The library stands in contrast to the strict and formal neighbouring buildings. It is in large part transparent in that three of the building’s four sides consist completely of glass (the longest is 106 metres long), constructed on Moelven glulam columns.
In addition to the library being a popular and important tourist attraction in itself, it also functions as an inviting gateway from the city’s western parts to the park and the city’s central streets beyond.
Inside the building, a feeling of space, light and openness pervades the structure. It is quiet and relaxing in the large book hall with wooden floors and the warm ceiling of glulam beams high above. The roof rests on v-shaped glulam columns, which in turn rest on round concrete pillars.
Spread out in the book hall there are four nicely coloured towers – two rectangular shaped and two round ones – like islands in a sea of books and with areas for reading on the top. The basement, also filled with books, is linked to the higher level through two open squares without ceilings.
In the evening, heavily lighted bookshelves create streets of light in the book hall, which becomes a separate city within the larger city, with the promise of excitement and surprises. Arne Jacobsen’s deep Egget chairs stand all along the entire length of the longest glass wall, where visitors can lean back but still have full view of the areas.