Bookmark Salbke Open-Air-Library

The project was planned right from the beginning as a SOCIAL SCULPTURE. The starting point as intervention and temporary test of an outdoor library has helped to generate a truly open process and set a basis to evolve and to include unforeseen aspects of sustainability. The collection of donated books, the primer functions as well as the re-use of a modernist facade of the 1960ies has been developed in an intense dialogue between architects and Citizens. The outdoor library was planned right from the beginning as a SOCIAL SCULPTURE in the centre of the district Salbke that is characterized by shrinkage, abandoned industrial plants and brownfields. The design of the outdoor-space as well as its functions has been negotiated in a very close and open participation process.

A public intervention, using beer crates as building material was the projects start: On the fallow site of the former district library a 1:1 model has been mocked up for two days and the shelves have been filled with bookdonations. The residents took over the energy of the temporary project and opened up an informal districtlibrary near the site, which now offers more than 30.000 donated books. Beside the aspect of SOCIAL SUSTAINABILTY, the architectural highlight of the project is the reuse of a renown facade of a modernist department store in the City of Hamm. The department stores of the entrepreneur Horten, built in numerous German cities with a more or less similar facade have soon raised as target of fundamental modernist critic. Today there is a reevaluation of these kinds of facades. In this sense, the project stands beside energetic aspects for a SUSTAINABILTY OF SIGNS of the postwar period.

Since its inauguration the Open-Air-Library and its retro-futuristic design is seen by the citizens as a new VILLAGE ICON and as sign towards a brighter future. The bookshelves are never closed; you can take a book whenever you want. There is no bureaucracy - it is a library of confidence. The Open-Air-Library was funded as a pilot project in a research framework by the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. Beside the aspect of SOCIAL SUSTAINABILTY, the architectural highlight of the project is the re-use of a renown facade of a modernist department store in the City of Hamm. The department stores of the entrepreneur Horten, built in numerous German cities - with a more or less similar facade - have soon raised as target of fundamental modernist critic. Today there is a re-evaluation of these kinds of facades. In this sense, the project stands beside energetic aspects for a SUSTAINABILTY OF SIGNS of the post-war period.