Snøhetta and Dialog's New Central Library for Calgary features vast wood-lined atrium
Architecture firms Snøhetta and Dialog have completed a new hub for Calgary's public library system, with a crystalline exterior and an atrium clad in timber slats.
The New Central Library, which opened to the public 1 November 2018, provides a larger home for the Canadian city's literature collection and more space for programmed events.
The library sits in a growing cultural area that includes theatres, galleries, and the National Music Centre completed last year.
Snøhetta, which has offices globally, worked with local studio Dialog on the project after winning a competition in 2013.
The shape of the 240,000-square-foot (22,300-square-metre) building is intended to evoke a chinook ? a natural atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in the region, which results in dramatic arched cloud formations. This arch shape is reflected on building's underside, as it spans up and over a raised public thoroughfare ? providing a new connection between Downtown Calgary and the developing East Village neighbourhood.
Clad with steam-bent western red cedar, the arch curves in multiple directions above the building's entrance, which is raised substantially above grade to accommodate a light rail track that runs through the site.
The trains enter a tunnel beneath the "prow" of the building, and descend as they pass under the structure. This also necessitated a change in level from the library's entrance to the prow, which is negotiated by ramps inside.
From the covered entrance, v...
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