“El universo (que otros llaman la Biblioteca) se compone de un número indefinido, y tal vez infinito, de galerías hexagonales, con vastos pozos de ventilación en el medio, cercados por barandas bajísimas. Desde cualquier hexágono, se ven los pisos inferiores y superiores: interminablemente. La distribución de las galerías es invariable”. BORGES, Jorge Luis. (2011). La Biblioteca de Babel. En Ficciones (pp. 89-100). Barcelona, España: Debolsillo.
Borges, by way of introduction, describes a spatial universe that could be similar to what this project pursues. A library made up of bookshelves that climb through a void radiated by an overhead light that descends to the underground and fluid spaces in the section that allows us to understand the building as a whole, turning the void into the greatest value of architecture. An interior landscape with an infinity of crossed glances that will offer a meeting place sheltered by thousands of books for those who come to the new municipal library.
Access, from Iglesia Street, occurs through a hallway behind which is the access control. The ground level at this point, slightly above the level of the street, marks the ground floor level. This level separates into two slabs of different widths, ascending and descending, on gentle slopes. The smallest of the platforms descends to the level of the garden; the largest rises above it allowing natural light to enter the first basement. This entry of light, together with that allowed by the English patio at the tip of the plot, make this ground floor, for practical purposes, a semi-basement conveniently equipped with natural lighting and ventilation.
The building is vertically sewn by a variable section patio that bathes each of the levels it crosses with indirect light. The visual connection between different floors provides a unitary reading of the interior while endowing it with spatial richness. One of the sides of the patio is formed by a large three-storey high shelf, with walkways on each of them. This vertically uninterrupted piece of furniture also serves to house the fresh air supply uprights that branch out on each floor. On the roof of the plants below ground, a garden is developed that is the foreground of the view from the different levels and on which the line of the marine horizon is drawn.
