Mannheim City Library

Competition “New Mannheim City Library and Redesign of Dalbergplatz”

Two interwoven spirals as the guiding spatial motif

Flexible spatial continuity for future, evolving requirements

Transparency and warmth through timber and glass

The starting point of the design is the idea of understanding the library not as an enclosed building but as a three-dimensional urban square. Dalbergplatz is, quite literally, folded into a walkable sculpture extending into the third dimension.

Two walkable spirals, winding through all storeys like a Möbius strip, guide visitors from the foyer to the reading garden on the roof terrace. This dynamic form turns the route through the library into an experience in itself and creates a wide range of places for encounter, communication, and focused work.

The spatial logic follows the rhythm of contemporary learning and working environments. Places for communication, retreat, and creative work are arranged within a flexible structure that adapts to users’ needs. Transparent rooms, multifunctional seating steps, and vegetated zones create an atmosphere that is both open and sheltered.

Through the defining materials of timber and glass, and a diversity of media, the library enters into dialogue with the city and its users and is already perceptible from the outside. The redesign of Dalbergplatz also integrates green spaces, forming a symbiosis of urbanity and nature. In this way, the library becomes a green steppingstone within the city’s network of squares and contributes to the sustainability of the urban realm through its planting.

Project

New City Library

Location

Mannheim

Client

City of Mannheim

Partners

UKW Innenarchitekten, LAND Germany GmbH

GFA

21.200 m²

Competition

2020

Uses

Library, learning and working areas, event spaces, roof gar-den