The Long Now Blog

Wow, I just visited Stockholm and if this would have been built already I for sure would have visited it! So cool! It encaptures looking at collective wisdom or something like that...

beautiful, but impractical. impressive but hard to use. imagine that catwalk full of people. Browsing, carrying loads, groups of students combing the same sections and getting in everyone's way. ugly book carts slowly wending there way. the occasional user with vertigo needing a librarian help just to look. suicides. accidents. falling books.guerrilla artists moving the books to make digital shapes and statements...beauty idea.

you're right in a way, but i feel like the antechambers are going to be a lot wider than they seem

@Hector Cuevas

I'm an engineer, I think it looks awesome. lol if you want a real opinion on functionality never ask an engineer, all we think about is how to take something and make it even more awesome than it is now

Wicked photo.... Impressive

Thanks for sharing

Jonathan

I don't know about all that naked concrete.

Stephan

Wow I just saw all the comments on my post here.

I think what this space does very well is get you interested in all the stuff that could be in all those books. It shows depth and diversity. I see this as a place to see what books once looked like.

In a seriously long term library, handling any physical volumes will have to be for special purposes only (like rescanning with better tech in the future). Most people will just access the data on those books as text.

And yes you would have to solve the UV problem, but that could be done through coated glass, or just using archival lighting system in its place.

a very interesting discussion above with a number of interesting points raised, addressed and counter-raised (longevity, acessibility, resources..)

what it does very well though is attract attention and encourage reflection. perhaps these are its greatest assets and the point of the excersise.

one more thing - since this is intended for stockholm, it will never happen. the status quo is unfortunately all powerful here. at the moment.

What about inclusive Arch/Design???

The books getting damaged is the least of my worries.

What about the People? Pregnant women? Old people? Mobility-challenged citizens?

I really doubt they will implement elevators there, it would ruin the Image.

What about climbing all the way to the last floor and down again only to notice you forgot to bring one book? What about tables near the shelves for quick cross-consultations?

Stunning? For sure! As all StArchitecture. Too bad they sold the people for the WOW factor.

Reminded me of giant version of Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
http://www.som.com/content.cfm/gordon_bunshaft_interview_on_beinecke_library

Books? On paper? What are those?

I think it would be pretty cool combined with a Google-like scan of all the books. Researchers would work at workstations. Select the group of books you want to work with and robots are dispatched to retrieve them. When done you send them back. Since the locations of all the books would be stored in a database, there's no need to worry about stacking them in the correct order.

This isn't your normal lending library, this would be like having all our printed knowledge on one wall for tourists and visitors to marvel at. Researchers would book private rooms for their study.

Preserving the classic medium of knowledge is an interesting idea, it visually imparts the concept of knowledge as a construction.

Wow, absolutely mind-boggling.

So put in some lights and don't allow for sunlight to enter. Problem solved, and we have a great design.

As for the problem of reaching the top shelves - libraries do this all the time. They put books that are hardly ever used where they can only be reached after going through some trouble. For example using a sliding ladder.

Accessability is not much of a problem either. One shelf alone contains loads of books, so once you're there you'll have access to a whole section. Unless you need to access books on cooking, horseback riding, mathematics, space engineering and popular music within an arms reach, you're not gonna have a problem. Instead of entering a specific room of an ordinary library, you'll enter a specific shelf. I don't really see the problem.

For something to serve in the 21st century, this is a waste of resources. The concept is centuries old and does little to make existing knowledge available to a larger, more diverse population. Impressive, yes. But so are the pyramids.

Yeah, that doesn't make good sense with all that sunlight hitting those books. Silly humans.

@David Rysdam: Great observation. We still have a LONG way to go in long-term thinking.

Other than looking pretty on a portfolio I don't know what problem is this supposed to solve. It puts a gulf between books and readers, is a pain to navigate (only one stair in the middle of a long level), and I wonder how are you supposed to reach the higher shelves. I seriously doubt it even saves on lighting -you know, midday doesn't last forever- and even their own render shows most levels will have poor illumination.

Actually, it's a pretty good example of short-term thinking -a cool print for an architect's portfolio. If you want it to last and be useful, bring an engineer.

(And no, I'm not an engineer).

I got the same feeling looking at this as I did when I looked over the edge of Half Dome in Yosemite.

Just look at that awesome library. Just look at it.

I’d hate to be a page there!

Cool looking: Yes.
10,000 year design: With sunlight falling right on the books?