The link between the past and the future.
These are the main characteristics of the project for the Library of the Jesuits’ University of Deusto in Bilbao, in which Seves, world leader company in the market of glass blocks, is involved alongside one of major names in architecture, Rafael Moneo.
Conceived to house a genuine treasure, 800,000 volumes, over 60,000 of which belonging to funds from antiquity, printed between 1550 and 1830, the library lies in one of the “hottest” European areas from the architectural point of view: the new urban park on the left bank of the Estuary of the Nervion river in Bilbao, including the university area of Deusto and the famous Guggenheim museum by US architect Frank O. Gehry.
Two important pre-existing elements, of which the architect has inevitably had to take account: if in fact on one hand the new building was not supposed in any way to compete with the important role that the Guggenheim has acquired, on the other one it was to manifest its public role and establish, as far as possible, a harmonious continuity with the university, though distinguishing itself as a volume in its own right and with its own life in the park.
These were the prior assumptions that prompted Rafael Moneo to approach Seves glassblock, the Home glass block Division of Seves, in order to create his own glass block - a material capable of combining excellent construction properties with unprecedented aesthetic and formal potential – that would have become the characterising element of the project.
The idea that guided the architect was to play on the differing perception of the material depending on the distances from it, creating an architecture legible from afar as a monolithic, monochrome, neutral volume, capable of softening the brightness of the titanium of the Guggenheim and integrating into the future green world of the park without any tension, but revealing from close up a complexity of textures and nuances ensuring the strong aesthetic identity of the construction.
Exploiting the capacity for innovation acquired in recent years by Seves glassblock in “customized” glass blocks - moving from the block with the extraordinary dimensions 42.8.x.42.8cm realized for the Maison Hermès in Tokyo by Renzo Piano, to the 30 x 30cm Trapezoidal bloc for the Terme di Tiberio Resort in Panticosa by the studio Moneo-Brock - for his building in fact Rafael Moneo has conceived a special 30x30cm glass block with the peculiarity of having its outer face consisting of parallel fluted patterns in relief, evoking the jagged motif of Doric Hellenic building columns, a motif that is also taken up on the other face of the block, but internally, so the surface is smooth to the touch.
A creative divertissement, to underline through the variation in a contemporary vein of a topos of Classical architecture the strong bond between past and present that characterises a library, a treasure design chest of the past and a garden cradle of future knowledge.
The surface of the Doric block -as the new glass block has been called- is enlivened by an interplay of grooves and reliefs that stick out about 20mm: it’s the first time that a tridimensional decor in relief is created on the glass block surface. This innovation gives new possibilities to use this material in “sculptural” applications thanks to its charm to the touch and its preciousness to the eye, the complex reflections created and the effect of a moving and multi-faceted façade sought by the architect for his building.
The result is even more alluring at night, when the Guggenheim is only present through the fissures, and the library, illuminated from the interior, is transformed into a lighthouse, a translucent presence that pervades the entire area.
Internally, the architecture is developed in the relationship with luminaire and the view of the city. The reading rooms, located on the ground floor and on the 3 storeys above ground and equipped with a total of a thousand home tables, offer a privileged view of the Guggenheim and the river; the south façade, on the other hand, has been designed building blind, to contain the storerooms envisaged at every level, as well as on the 3 underground floors.
The Doric glass blocks cover three quarters of the building, and become the main distinctive sign furniture of the identity of the architecture of the building.
The inauguration is expected for the new academic year, in October 2008.