All photos ©Michael Grimm.

2018年11月1日，由Snøhetta和DIALOG设计的新中央图书馆向公众开放。该图书馆的目标是在其240，000平方英尺的扩建设施中接待超过两倍的年度访客，该图书馆将为快速扩张的城市发挥至关重要的作用。作为卡尔加里自1988年奥运会以来最大的公共投资，该图书馆标志着城市生活新篇章的开始，这一篇章以知识和文化的创造和创新为中心。卡尔加里公共图书馆是北美最大的图书馆系统之一，其一半以上的居民是活跃的持卡人，因此，新的主分馆是为其多元化的居民创建的，并受到其启发。新建筑为所有类型的人和活动提供了空间——用于社交互动和交流、学习和学习、安静和内省——倡导图书馆今天提供的独特公民功能。
该建筑坐落在一个复杂的城市条件下，一条全面运营的轻轨交通线沿着弯曲的半月形路径从地上穿过地下，将市中心和东村分开。作为回应，该设计将主入口抬高到封装的火车线路上。平缓的梯田斜坡上升到建筑物的中心，允许从各个方向到达的人们与图书馆互动。坐落在露台上的户外圆形剧场为人们提供了坐下的地方，并为图书馆节目提供了溢出到外面的地方。参考原生景观的植物将卡尔加里的山脉和草原吸引到城市景观中，并在广场周围的街道上种满了榆树和白杨树。入口广场兼作门户和桥梁，修复了两个社区之间先前分裂的接缝，并在整个场地上重新建立了视觉和行人连接。On November 1, 2018, the Snøhetta- and DIALOG-designed new Central Library opened its doors to the public. With aims to welcome over twice as many annual visitors to its 240,000 SF of expanded facilities, the library will fill a vital role for the rapidly expanding city. As Calgary’s largest public investment since the 1988 Olympics, the library signals the beginning of a new chapter in the life of the city, one centered on the creation and innovation of knowledge and culture. Calgary Public Library is one of the largest library systems in North America, where more than half of its residents are active cardholders, and accordingly, the new main branch was created for and inspired by its diverse inhabitants. The new building provides spaces for all types of people and activities—for social interaction and exchange, for studying and learning, for quiet and introspection—championing the unique civic function that libraries provide today.
The building is sited within a complex urban condition, where a fully operational Light Rail Transit Line crosses the site from above to below ground on a curved half- moon path, dividing Downtown and East Village. In response, the design lifts the main entry over the encapsulated train line. Gently terraced slopes rise up to the heart of the building, allowing for people arriving from every direction to interact with the library. Outdoor amphitheaters nestled into the terraces provide places for people to sit and for library programs to spill outside. Plantings that reference the native landscape draw Calgary’s mountains and prairies into the cityscape, and line the plaza’s surrounding streets with elms and aspen trees. Doubling as a portal and a bridge, the entry plaza heals the previously-split seam between the two neighborhoods and re-establishes visual and pedestrian connections across the site.

动态的三层玻璃立面由模块化的六边形图案组成，表达了图书馆的目标，即提供一个邀请所有访客的空间。六边形形式的聚合变化散布在建筑物的曲面上，交替使用烧结玻璃和偶尔的彩虹铝板。从这些形状中出现了熟悉的形式：图案的一部分可能类似于一本打开的书，雪花般的线条或互锁的房屋，锚定了想法。The dynamic, triple-glazed façade is composed of a modular, hexagonal pattern that expresses the library’s aims to provide a space that invites in all visitors. Aggregated variations on the hexagon form scatter across the building’s curved surface in alternating panels of fritted glass and occasional iridescent aluminum. From these shapes emerge familiar forms: Parts of the pattern might resemble an open book, snowflake-like linework, or interlocking houses, anchoring the ideas
集体和社区。最重要的是，整个建筑体量以相同的模式封闭，允许所有侧面作为建筑物的“正面”。这种视觉词汇在内部延续，体现在CPL新的视觉识别和建筑中的寻路标牌的设计中，统一了图书馆的包容性目标。立面的水晶几何形状被雕刻掉，露出一个广阔的木拱门，在游客接近时拥抱他们。该形式以建筑物的入口为框架，参考了该地区常见的奇努克云拱门。这种双曲面贝壳完全由附近不列颠哥伦比亚省的西部红雪松木板制成，是世界上最大的自由形态木壳之一。它的有机形式和纹理将大型建筑降低到触觉，亲密的规模。从建筑物的外部可以看到主中庭，邀请人们进入。of the collective and community. Most importantly, the entire building volume is enclosed in the same pattern, allowing all sides to function as the “front” of the building. This visual vocabulary continues inside, expressed in the design of CPL’s new visual identity and wayfinding signage in the building, unifying the library’s goals of inclusivity. The crystalline geometry of the façade is carved away to reveal an expansive wood archway that embraces visitors as they approach. Framing the entrance of the building, the form references the Chinook cloud arches common to the region. Created entirely of planks of western red cedar from nearby British Columbia, the double- curved shell is among one of the largest freeform timber shell in the world. Its organic form and texture bring the large building down to a tactile, intimate scale. Visible from the outside of the building is the main atrium, inviting people in.

当拱门继续进入大厅和中庭时，木头螺旋上升超过85英尺，通过眼睛可以看到天空。开放式中庭的周边排列着木板条，平面形状像一个尖椭圆，作为人们快速掌握图书馆流通和组织逻辑的定向装置。在内部，混凝土结构暴露在外且未完成，暗示了内部的开放式可能性。横梁和柱子的节奏让人想起古希腊建筑的公共露天柱廊stoa，兼作聚会和知识交流的空间。材料调色板的原始性旨在给人一种感觉，即图书馆是一个参与的地方，而不是一个神圣的书籍库。As the archway continues into the lobby and atrium, the wood spirals upwards over 85 feet to a view of the sky through the oculus. Wood slats line the perimeter of the open atrium, shaped in plan like a pointed ellipse, serving as an orientation device for people to quickly grasp the circulation and organizational logic of the library. Inside, the concrete structure is left exposed and unfinished, hinting at the open-ended possibilities within. The rhythm of beams and columns are reminiscent of a stoa, the public, open-air colonnades of ancient Greek architecture that doubled as spaces of gathering and intellectual exchange. The rawness of the material palette is intended to give people the sense that the library is a place of engagement, rather than a sacrosanct repository for books.
图书馆计划按照“有趣”到“严肃”的范围进行组织，将较热闹的公共活动定位在较低的楼层，随着螺旋式上升，逐渐过渡到较高楼层的安静学习区。在街道层面，一系列多功能室排列在建筑物的周边，增强了内部和外部之间的连通性。在一楼，儿童图书馆提供游戏室，为手工艺品和绘画活动、早期识字计划和全身室内游戏体验提供空间。Organized on a spectrum of ‘Fun’ to ‘Serious,’ the library program locates the livelier public activities on the lower floors, gradually transitioning to quieter study areas on the upper levels as one spirals upwards. At the street level, a series of multi-purpose rooms line the perimeter of the building, enhancing the connectivity between inside and outside. On the ground floor, a Children’s Library offers playhouses that provide space for crafts and drawing-based activities, early literacy programs, and a full-body indoor play experience.

贯穿六层楼，各种空间提供数字、模拟、团体和个人互动。图书馆的最上层是大阅览室，被设想为藏在图书馆内的珠宝盒，为集中学习和灵感提供了空间。读者通过一个具有柔和光线和声学的过渡空间进入。在内部，垂直的木板条排列在空间内，以提供隐私和可见性，在不使用实心墙的情况下定义内部空间。自然光通过木板条照亮空间，在中庭和西立面之间形成掠视线。Throughout the six floors, a variety of spaces provide for digital, analog, group, and individual interactions. At the uppermost level of the library is the Great Reading Room, conceived as a jewel box tucked within the library, which provides a space for focused study and inspiration. Readers enter through a transitional space with softened light and acoustics. Within, vertical wood slats line the space to provide both privacy and visibility, defining an interior space without using solid walls. Natural light illuminates the space through the wood slats creating glancing sightlines between the atrium and western façade.

到达图书馆的最北端，人们发现自己在客厅，俯瞰火车线路和两个街区的交汇点。这座充满光线和活力的建筑不仅将成为外面人的灯塔，邀请他们进入，而且还将成为向外看的前景 - 一个合适的有利位置，观察希望重振卡尔加里文化，学习和社区精神的建筑的影响。Arriving at the northernmost point of the library, one finds oneself at the Living Room, overlooking the train line and the meeting point of the two neighborhoods. Filled with light and activity, this prow of the building will not only serve as a beacon to those outside, inviting them to enter, but also as a prospect for looking back out – a fitting vantage point to observe the impact of a building that hopes to re-energize the spirit of culture, learning, and community in Calgary.

Project Background
The Calgary Public Library system is actively used by over 670,000 Calgarians (over half of its 1.2M population) and plays a major role in connecting residents from all walks of life. Accordingly, the new Central Library was catalyzed by a significant public engagement process. A series of programs were held in 2012, where more than 16,000 people provided input for what they hoped to see in the Library’s role within the community and its function. In 2013, CPL and CMLC hosted an international design competition to select the architecture and landscape architecture team to realize the Central Library. The Snøhetta- and DIALOG-designed library reached substantial completion in July 2018, was handed over to Calgary Public Library in September, and opened on time and on budget to the public on November 1, 2018. The new Central Library will join Studio Bell, the Arts Commons, and the Glenbow Museum as part of a burgeoning cultural campus in downtown Calgary and the East Village.

Team Credits
Design Architect, Landscape Architect, Interior Architecture, FF&E, Millwork, Signage & Wayfinding: Snøhetta
Executive Architect & Executive Landscape Architect: DIALOG
Client: Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC)
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Status: Completed 2018
Size: 240,000 sqft (2/3 larger than original library)
Budget: $245 million CAD (total project cost), $147 million CAD (hard cost) Structural: Entuitive
Mechanical: DIALOG
Electrical & Lighting: SMP Engineering
IT/AV: McSquared System Design Group, Inc.
Contractor: Stuart Olson