The municipality of Milan announced the results of the competition to design the new European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) in Milan, Italy. The winning proposal is by a team led by Onsite Studio, Baukuh, Yellow Office and SCE Project SRL, Studio Mistretta Starching, Stain Engineering SRL, DotDotDot, Ab-normal, and Atmos Labs.

The new building, situated in the Porta Vittoria area of Milan (the affected area, now in disuse and withdrawn from public use, is the one that extends between Viale Molise to the east, via Cervignano to the west with the railway link stop, via Monte Ortigara to the south and a newly built residential complex to the north), aims to be a traditional library, where the treasures of an already consolidated culture are kept, but rather a laboratory with the tools necessary to create contemporary culture.
The winner's proposal was selected from a group of 5 entries, among the 44 project proposals received for the Competition.

The New European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) - aims to innovate the meanings traditionally attributed to the term, starting with the envelope. Compact, simple and sober, designed for maximum energy and acoustic efficiency, it will consist of two main volumes joined on the ground floor, two corridors with a trapezoidal section completely clad in metal and glass, to compose an explicitly industrial figure, between the greenhouse, the station and factory, harmonious with the environment in which it is inserted.
 
"The project responds to the urban context, to the complexity of the functional program and to the values ​​of formal significance and environmental sustainability required by the theme with a simple and convincing solution from all points of view."
Selection Committee.

The Commission, chaired by Stefano Boeri, a representative member of the BEIC Foundation, was also composed of Jocelyn Helen Froimovich Hes, representative of the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators of the Province of Milan, by Rosa Maiello and Cino Zucchi representing the Municipality of Milan, by Jhionny Pellicciotta for the Order of Engineers of the Province of Milan.

After the delivery of the final and executive projects, it will be possible to proceed with the tender and then the start of the actual works, scheduled from 2024 to finish by 2026.
 


European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) by Onsitestudio, Baukuh, YellowOffice. Rendering by Onirism Studio.


European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) by Onsitestudio, Baukuh, YellowOffice. Rendering by Onirism Studio.


The ground floor will be an open space and will support the two main volumes, identical, of 27 x 75 meters of footprint and 33 meters high, for 6 floors above ground as well as 2 underground. To the glass and metal of the exterior, wooden elements will be added to the interior. It will connect with the third pavilion which will contain the Imaginarium, the part divided into two levels entirely dedicated to children and also designed to host games, didactic experiments, representations, and the Auditorium, an underground room accessible by lifts or via a staircase. cylindrical volume, which will be able to accommodate 300 people for conferences, concerts, shows and public meetings, and will guarantee the best acoustic conditions.

In one of the main volumes, the one to the north, the Forum will be developed, also a place for consulting the volumes but equipped with multifunctional rooms and therefore also open to those who do not attend the library for study reasons. The other volume will host the Departments, the areas with the documentary sections, including the digital ones, divided by topics, the collections and the reading rooms, as well as offices, meeting rooms, and workstations.   

At its top, the volume to the north will culminate in a large greenhouse, and the one to the south will open onto a terrace where the reading room open all day will find space.

The robotic warehouse will be buried in the centre of the building, designed to accommodate 2.5 million volumes and serve all parts of the library, protected from natural light and sealed to ensure fire protection and minimize dust penetration.


European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) by Onsitestudio, Baukuh, YellowOffice. Rendering by Onirism Studio.

European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) by Onsitestudio, Baukuh, YellowOffice. Rendering by Onirism Studio.
 

Project description by Onsite Studio, Baukuh, YellowOffice

The new European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) is not a traditional library, where the treasures of a culture can be stored and made accessible for the future, but a laboratory, where to develop the tools necessary to produce contemporary culture.

The new library exposes its productive atmosphere already in its physical conformation. The new building consists of two naves with a trapezoidal cross-section, extensively glazed, forming an explicitly industrial figure, part greenhouse, part station, part factory. The building appears as a giant laboratory, sober, busy, open, ambitious, and Officina Milanese (Milanese workshop) entirely at the service of a multiple but concrete cultural life, where learning processes are always an opportunity to construct objects, invent devices, to make things.

The new BEIC is a simple, compact building: the two naves accommodate the two main parts of the program: the northern volume houses the Forum, the southern one the Departments. The two naves are the same in terms of envelope, but different in content: the first is lighter and open towards the square, the second more dense, reserved and silent. The two volumes give shape to a double, yet unitary building. The two bodies are in fact united by a continuous ground floor, which contains the entrance spaces, the exhibition and event spaces, and access to the vertical circulation and are strategically connected to the various levels. The two main volumes are flanked by a smaller volume to the southeast, which houses the auditorium and the Imaginarium. The robotic storage is at the centre of the building, on the basement floors, and effectively serves all parts of the library. The Forum spaces, in the northern volume, have variable inter-floor heights; the spaces in the southern volume have constant heights. At its top, the north volume houses a large greenhouse populated by pavilions; the southern volume opens into a terrace enclosing the reading room open at all hours of the day.

The two naves are entirely clad in a uniform metal and glass envelope, emphasising the iconic and unified volume, while at the same time allowing light to be captured and solar energy to be stored in the most appropriate way for the different local conditions. The volume containing the auditorium in the basement and the Imaginarium is a simply stepped pavilion, entirely enveloped in the vegetation of the terraces that mark it out as it approaches the pergola that stretches over the roof garden.

From a climatic point of view, the large entrance space, the full-height space housing the vertical circulation and the greenhouse at the top of the northern volume form a large Wintergarten, naturally ventilated in summer and capable of storing solar energy in winter.

More information

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Design team
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Angelo Raffaele Lunati, Giancarlo Floridi, Luca Gallizioli (Onsitestudio), Pier Paolo Tamburelli, Andrea Zanderigo, Giacomo Summa (Baukuh), Francesca Benedetto (Yellow office), Manuela Fantini (SCE projects), Marcello Cerea (Studio Mistretta Starching), Davide Masserini (Ab-normal), Antonio Danesi (Stain Engineering SRL), consultants Silvestre Mistretta, Giuseppe Zaffino(Greenwich), Fabrizio Pignoloni (DotDotDot) and collaborator Florencia Collo (Atmos Labs).
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Area
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30.000 m².
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Dates
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Competition, 11 July 2022. After the delivery of the final and executive projects, it will be possible to proceed with the tender and then the start of the actual works, scheduled from 2024 to finish by 2026.
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Venue / Localitation
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Porta Vittoria, Milan, Italy.
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Renderings
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Onirism Studio.
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Onsitestudio is an architectural practice founded in Milan in 2006. The studio is headed by Angelo Lunati and Gian Carlo Floridi. At this moment it employs 18 stable collaborators. The projects of the studio are informed by a sensitive approach to physical consistency according to the tone of contexts and by the potential of materials and construction as a matter of experience and the atmosphere of places. Since its founding Onsitestudio aims at to combine an experimental dimension together with a professional one, to find answers to complex problems through accurate control of the design process and continuous coordination with different consultants.

Among the most relevant projects and realizations of the office, are the school complex at Cascina Merlata (2016), the Pirelli learning centre (2016), the Duca d’Aosta Hotel (2015) and the EXPO service architectures (2015).

Onsitestudio work has been published in italian and International magazines and books ( Casabella, Domus, Abitare, Le Moniteur, T+A, etc..) and displayed in several exhibitions ( among them Biennale Internazionale d’Architettura di Venezia in 2012, 2014, 2016). Onsitestudio has been awarded Special Mention at Italian Architect of the year 2016 and 1st prize at Young Italian architect of the year 2010.

Angelo Lunati, (1973) Graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1998, studied also at Facultade de Arquitectura do Porto and received a PhD at ETH Zurich in 2018. He gained professional experience working for SMP before establishing Onsitestudio in 2006. He is currently a unit professor of Architectural Design at Politecnico di Milano and visiting professor at TU Wien.

Giancarlo Floridi, (1973) Graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1999, studied mainly at Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid and received a Phd at Politecnico di Milano in 2005. He gained professional experience working for several practices (JBA, Steven Holl, Eduardo Souto Moura, OdA) before joining Onsitestudio in 2011. He is currently a lecturer and unit professor of Architectural Design at Politecnico di Milano.
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Baukuh is a young office based in Milan and Geneve. It was founded in 2004 by Paolo Carpi, Silvia Lupi, Vittorio Pizzigoni, Giacomo Summa, Pier Paolo Tamburelli and Andrea Zanderigo. Tamburelli has been nominated to the Wheelwright 2016 prize, given by the GSD of Harvard University, a platform which aims to promote new investigation forms based in the intercultural commitment.
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Published on: July 26, 2022
Cite: "Onsitestudio, Baukuh, YellowOffice won the competition for the new European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC)" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/onsitestudio-baukuh-yellowoffice-won-competition-new-european-library-information-and-culture-beic> ISSN 1139-6415
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