Stockholm Public Library (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ''Stockholms stadsbibliotek'' or ''Stadsbiblioteket'') is a library building in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund, and one of the city's most notable structures. The name is today used for both the main library itself as well as the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

library system of Stockholm.

Architecture

Discussed by a committee of which Asplund himself was a member from 1918, a design scheme was proposed in 1922, and construction began in 1924. Partly inspired by the ''Barrière Saint-Martin (Rotonde de la Villette)'' by

Claude Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

, Asplund abandoned earlier ideas for a dome in favour of a rotunda whose tall

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

gives the exterior some monumentality. In the course of its planning, he reduced elements of the classical order to their most abstract geometrical forms, for the most part eliminating architectural decor. Stockholm Public Library was Sweden's first public library to apply the principle of open shelves where visitors could access books without the need to ask library staff for assistance, a concept Asplund studied in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

during the construction of the library. All the furnishings in all the rooms were designed for their specific positions and purposes. Barrière Saint-Martin

Officially opened on 31 March 1928 in the presence of Prince Eugen, due to financial constraints the library was still missing its west wing which was only added in 1932 to complete the approximately

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

base around the rotunda of the main reading room. Stockholm Public Library is one of Asplund's most important works and illustrates his gradual shift from

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

to functionalism. Also designed by Asplund and completed in 1931 is the parkland to the south with its large

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

and the shops along

Sveavägen Sveavägen is a major street in Stockholm, Sweden. Sveavägen originates at Sergels torg in the city district of Norrmalm, and goes north through the Vasastan district toward the border to Solna Municipality and the Haga Park. It is often kno ...

. The three simple annex buildings to the west, too, formed part of Asplund's original concept but were designed by other architects, i.e. Erik Lallerstedt (two blocks furthest west, 1929–30 and 1932) and

Paul Hedqvist Paul Hedqvist (21 July 1895 Stockholm - 23 June 1977) was a Swedish modernist architect with many official commissions in Sweden through the 1930s, including housing projects, major bridges, many schools, and urban planning work. His practice e ...

(1952–53).

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

's design of

Arnos Grove tube station Arnos Grove is a London Underground station located in Arnos Grove in the London Borough of Enfield, London. It is on the Piccadilly line between Bounds Green and Southgate stations and is in Travelcard Zone 4. The station opened on 19 Septem ...

in North London is said to be based on the Stockholm Public Library.

Holdings

Stockholm Public Library includes more than 2 million volumes and 2.4 million audio tapes, CDs and audio books. The "international library" is the section for foreign languages, housed in two floors of an annex behind the main building, close to

Odenplan Odenplan is a plaza located in the district Vasastaden in central Stockholm, Sweden. History Odenplan was named after the old Norse god Odin. Odenplan metro station Odenplan station is a station on both the Green Line of the Stockholm M ...

. Its holdings comprise more than 100 languages with 17,000 volumes in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, 15,800 in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, and 14,500 in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. In 2007 the most borrowed languages were

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(19,300 loans),

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

, Spanish, Arabic, Persian,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, Polish and Japanese. For some of these languages, Stockholm serves public libraries in the rest of Sweden through

interlibrary loan Interlibrary loan (abbreviated ILL, and sometimes called interloan, interlending, document delivery, document supply, or interlibrary services, abbreviated ILS) is a service where patrons of one library can borrow materials and receive photocopies ...

Proposed future expansion

In 2006, the announcement of an international architectural competition for a library extension attracted 1,170 entries, though few leading international architects participated. The new structure was to be built next to Asplund's main building, using the site occupied by the three annex buildings, whose fate (i.e. demolition or integration) was deliberately left open in the

brief Brief, briefs, or briefing may refer to: Documents * A letter * A briefing note * Papal brief, a papal letter less formal than a bull, sealed with the pope's signet ring or stamped with the device borne on this ring * Design brief, a type of ed ...

. On 16 November 2007, little-known

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

architect

Heike Hanada Heike Hanada (born 1964) is a German architect. Hanada has been working as a free artist and a teacher of architecture since 1999 at Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. On 16 November 2007, Hanada's proposal ''Delphinium'' won the international ...

was declared the winner with her proposal ''Delphinium''. Her project includes a high-rise glass building, spatially removed from Asplund's main library but connected to it by a low, podium-like structure with a semi-circular courtyard into which the slope of the Observatorielunden seems to flow. Although Hanada was instructed to produce preliminary plans for the project's realisation, the extension was put on hold in late 2009. This was due to a change in city government with different priorities as well as a local campaign turned international about what critics saw as an unacceptable impact on the original, Asplund approved complex.The arguments are summarise
here
on the

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; french: links=no, Conseil international des monuments et des sites) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the worl ...

website (Retrieved 15 December 2011).

References

External links

Website with several photos about Asplund's work on Stockholm Public LibraryWebsite with several photos about Asplund's work5 films with English subtitles about the City Library of Stockholm designed by Gunnar Asplund. See the view from the roof, enjoy all the furnitures designed by architect G. Asplund, look into the marvellous Rotunda and so on.
{{Authority control Libraries in Sweden Buildings and structures in Stockholm Government buildings in Sweden Library buildings completed in 1928 Culture in Stockholm Education in Stockholm Tourist attractions in Stockholm Modernist architecture in Sweden 1928 establishments in Sweden

Architecture

Holdings

Proposed future expansion

See also

References

External links