042 _ _MAR/APR 2019
Groundbreaker _Calgary Central Library _Calgary, Alberta _Snøhetta with DIALOG
Lined in wooden slats,
the atrium serves as an
orientation device, guiding
visitors through a building
that has 30 meeting
spaces, a café, a huge
children’s area and a 350 -
seat performance hall.1.2 million includes about 90,000 kids under five – to
those interested in local history and genealogy. Snøhetta’s
scheme provides spaces for these visitors in a loose spiral
around the atrium, with more public and active uses at
the bottom and research-oriented ones up top. “It’s a pro-
gression from fun to serious,” Dykers explains.
The library also succeeds as a symbol. The hexagonal-
grid curtain wall offers a memorable visual language; the
great curved mass of the building, which evokes a ship in
dry-dock, implies movement and a creative spirit. The fact
that an LRT line passes right through the building only
adds to its sense of urbane complexity. It is an icon.
And Calgary needs one: This is a metropolis whose
built form is largely nondescript and whose public realm is
steadily improving but still underdeveloped. Snøhetta’s
design – along with the library’s ambitious set of public
programs – makes an argument for the importance of
public places. “A library of the future is the same as the
library of the past,” Dykers says. “Even if they hold artifacts
of the past, you use them to open a door to the future.” In
this case, that door opens to a city with stronger communal
spirit – intellectually curious and ready to come together.
snohetta.com, dialogdesign.ca