Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Table, Shelving, Chair, BeamTaltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Facade, BeamTaltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Shelving, ChairTaltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Image 5 of 30Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - More Images+ 25

Taltal, Chile
  • Architects: Murúa-Valenzuela: Benjamín Murúa, Rodrigo Valenzuela
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2010

Text description provided by the architects. Taltal is a coastal town in the Antofagasta Region, 306 Km. south of the city of Antofagasta and 25.4 degrees latitude south. The project to design the new public library arose from a public competition process petitioned by the Municipality of Taltal in 2008. Our firm submitted a project which received the first place selection.

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Shelving, Table, Chair

The new library´s site was a municipal plot, facing Taltal´s central square, and near the recently remodeled Alhambra Theater. The idea was to form a cultural network between the theater and the new library. The dimensions of the site—40 meters long and 7 meters wide—highly influenced and defined the special organization of the building.

Plans

We decided to divide the design into three floors, creating spaces of varied height that depend on the type of reading room. There is also an interior patio that divides public areas with internal working areas, apart from serving as an informal reading space.

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Shelving, Windows, Chair, Table

One of the issues that we took into consideration when developing the project was that the building would be higher than the average height of the rest of the city´s buildings. Hence, we would have a 7 meter façade facing the square, and two dividing walls of 40 meters each—80 meters all together—that would be visible from a large portion of the city. Due to this factor, we decided to work the walls as façades instead of simply perceiving them as dividing walls. This idea influenced in several ways, including the design of large skylights that illuminate the main hall, as well as applying a texture with visual designs to the exterior cement walling.

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Image 22 of 30

On the first two floors of the building we used a structure involving support pillars and beamed tiles in order to free up the interior space almost entirely. On the upper levels, we decided to create some volume with metallic structures, sheathing them with wavy metal plates.

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Image 5 of 30

To achieve the relief texture on the exterior cementing, we worked together with both a cement company and a formwork company. The idea behind this was to create a wall whose surface changes colors along with the changes in texture. The design pattern reproduces ornamental figures that we found in the Alhambra Theater and also on several other buildings in the city.

Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela - Beam

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Project location

Address:Torreblanca, Taltal, Antofagasta, Chile

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Taltal Public Library / Murúa-Valenzuela" 25 Jan 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/202080/taltal-public-library-murua-valenzuela> ISSN 0719-8884

塔尔塔尔公共图书馆 / Murúa-Valenzuela

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