Bicentennial Room, Chilean National Library / A+F Arquitectos

Feb 2009

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Museums and Libraries , Selected , Chile, Glass, Library

An amazing glass/lighting work to recover an unused space in the 1810 building for the Grand National Library in Santiago, Chile. The new space becomes a reading room open for the public. Thanks to Flip360 you can navigate the project, in panoramic mode:

More images after the break:

Architects: A+F Arquitectos – Cristián Ayçaguer F., Cristián Ferrari C., Carlos Cavagnaro I.
Location: Santiago, Chile
Acoustics: Acusticos.cl, Mario Parma
Structural Engineering: RSA Ingeniería, Raúl Sepúlveda
Electrical Engineering: Incoseelig, Bruno Meneses
Lighting: DIAV, Ximena Muñoz y Paulina Villalobos
Contractor: Faser, Rodrigo Beltrán
Total room Area: 400 sqm
Lecture Room Area: 125 sqm
Project year: 2006
Construction year: 2007-2009
Photographs: Eduardo Cifuentes

: plan

: elevation 01

: elevation 02

: section 01

: section 02

: sections 03

: detail

10 comments »

DreamSpaces Girl says:

What an amazing information! Your site is realy good!
Great images, good projects…
Keep this work!
Kisses from Portugal.

# February 5, 2009 at 14:13

Dao Hai says:

i like it.

# February 5, 2009 at 14:21

ornament and crime says:

I would love to see this at night with all the lights turned out except the led strips above the glass screens.

I suspect it would be even more beautiful.

# February 5, 2009 at 22:26

Kristopher Larsen says:

Any idea what the text on the wall reads?

# February 5, 2009 at 22:58

Gabe says:

So much excellent work being done in Chile, its amazing.

# February 5, 2009 at 23:56

David Basulto says:

Kristopher,

The text are passages selected by the library staff. No idea what it says…

# February 6, 2009 at 00:37

Artem says:

хорошо!!!:)

# February 6, 2009 at 06:29

DEDUCCION Diseño says:

muy bueno y pense que estava en otro pais y esta en chile
genial me pone contento voy a ir verlo si o si
saludos y abrazos desde Santiago de chile

# February 7, 2009 at 00:42

Hiroshi says:

I feel it is misplaced inside the classically styled library. The library is beautiful, bold, and strong, while the glass box is frail, awkward, and does not respond to the context in which it is placed, especially because of its offset square design and a single entry ramp that looks more like a temporary wheel-chair access.
Also, all of the features of the library are bounded by strong borders while the new addition is thin both in its structural sense and aesthetic sense…
to me, the writing on the glass seems more like a second-hand addition
And, finally, the gray carpeting is just awful, especially where it meets the beautiful wood floor of the library

# February 7, 2009 at 02:20

sirisha bysani says: