Arcsmith
The timber reading room with study tables

ProjectsCulturalOslo2022

Halden Public Library

A timber reading room stacked above a covered market hall, won in open competition.

Location
Oslo, Norway
Completion
2022
Built area
6,800 m²
Plot size
4,100 m²
Status
Completed
Client
Halden Municipality

The project

ServicesArchitecture, Interiors, Landscape
StructureGlulam spruce frame, CLT floors
CompetitionFirst prize, 2018
EngineerSweco Norge
Capacity120,000 volumes

The library replaces a car park at the head of the harbour. The municipality asked for a library; the town asked for a place to be in winter. We proposed both: a public market hall at ground level, open on all sides, with the library lifted above it as a single timber room.

The reading room is 60 metres long and column-free, framed in glulam spruce with a roof that folds to catch the low northern light. Shelves form the walls, so the collection itself insulates the space. Reading nooks push out through the facade as timber bays that hang over the market.

Since opening, the building has recorded three times the footfall of the old library. Most visitors never borrow a book. That was the point.

Reading room in dark timber, warmly lit
The reading room in the evening.Fig. 01
Reading chairs by the shelves
Reading bays pushed out through the facade.Fig. 02
Reading room planCOURTBATH21 M2BED 0226 M2BED 0118 M2WORKSHOP17 M2HALL15 M2GALLERY16 M2TERRACE24 M214.0014NPLAN — LEVEL 001:100 · A-100ARCSMITH
Level one: a single reading room with bays through the facade.Fig. 03
Timber shelving wall
Shelves as walls: the collection insulates the room.Fig. 04
Glulam beams of the folded roof
The folded glulam roof.Fig. 05

Approach

Two programmes, one roof. The market brings people; the library keeps them.

All timber was sourced within 200 km and the frame was raised in eleven weeks.

Recognition

  • Statens Byggeskikkpris 2023

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The timber frame of the pavilion from inside

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