Kengo Kuma and Associates has collaborated with Mad Arkitekter on the design of a library that will curve around existing trees in a small urban park in Skien, Norway.
Named Ibsen Library, the building will become a cultural hub to exhibit the literature of Henrik Ibsen ? a 19th-century playwright who was born in the Norwegian city.
Above: Kengo Kuma has designed a curved library in Norway. Top image: it will be built in a small park
Kengo Kuma and Associates and Mad Arkitekter's design, developed with Buro Happold Engineering, was the winning entry of a recent competition.
It will be built on a small park in central Skien alongside the Ibsenhuset ? the city's cultural centre and concert hall that is also named after the playwright.
It will curve around existing trees The library's design is intended to preserve and celebrate its parkland setting while maximising its potential as a public space.
The building's curved form will be formed around the existing trees, while a new outdoor amphitheatre and multiple access points will help to connect the building with the park.
Ibsen Library will be connected to Ibsenhuset
"The selected site at the cultural quarter for the Ibsen Library offers a great potential to create a new cultural core in the city of Skien," explained Yuki Ikeguchi, a partner in charge at Kengo Kuma and Associates
"Currently the park is rather quiet and hidden but in integration with the new space of the library it will be fully activated with ...