Urban regeneration and reconnection: the new library of Brixen

This article was originally published on Domus 1074, December 2022.

The new public library in Bressanone takes shape as a recomposition of the urban fabric combined with the reuse of historic elements. Parts of the former courthouse, prison and Guardia di Finanza police station have become components in a complex that also reconfigures the surrounding public spaces with new green and pedestrian areas. The reinforced concrete extension expands and contracts between the existing buildings without renouncing its own unique material and compositional qualities, thanks to its pure geometries and exterior surfaces in washed mineral render, culminating in the angular roof pitches clad in sheet aluminium. The main entrance is from Piazza del Duomo, crossing a portion of the existing structure that housed the Guardia di Finanza, while the heart of the complex is a quadruple height foyer in the new building, where the reception and periodicals library are located. 

The main staircase is open and allows multiple views of the interiors. The light entering from skylights accentuates the ambiguous character of this fluid space poised between old and new, inside and outside. The other openings are conceived in relation to the context. While the south side is articulated as a solid wall filled with shelving, two imposing transparent prisms – a reinterpretation of the Erker bay windows characteristic of the local vernacular – frame iconic elements of the city centre: the Torre Bianca and the Duomo bell tower on one side, and Palazzo Vescovile on the other.

The prism-alcoves become glimpses of the busy internal life of the library, emphasising the multifaceted programme of cultural activities within a complex conceived not only as a place for conservation. The first floor reading room dedicated to fiction also acts as a connecting space to reach the other spaces situated in the buildings of the former courthouse and Guardia di Finanza. Here, on the upper levels, one finds the nonfiction section, a multifunctional room, an area for literary events, a space for children and young people, as well as a music department and games room. 

The garden opens up on the east side, enclosed by the existing and new buildings. The abstract surfaces of the exterior contrast with the warm materials of the interiors, above all in the reading rooms and bookshelves – such as wood panelling and floors in natural larch and carpet – while in the circulation spaces, smoothed concrete predominates in different shades. Not overawed by its surroundings, the library’s spatially complex architecture is conceived as an uninterrupted sequence of unique spaces, accentuating an idea of history as a palimpsest and stratification.