Cheb Public Library

Remodeling and Extension of the Public Library in Cheb
CZ, Cheb — 2018
library
investor, client
Město CHEB
architect
Boris Redčenkov, Prokop Tomášek, Jaroslav Wertig
team, collaboration
Jitka Macáková, Zuzana Bartasová, David Poloch, Pavla Enochová
visualization
obrazek.org - Michal Nohejl

In 1911, a new library building was handed over to the public in Cheb. It was donated to the town by the Cheb businessman Dominik Kreuzinger. The building was designed in Art Nouveau style by architect Max Loos from Teplice and was one of the first buildings in Austria-Hungary built specifically for this function. 

Like most important public buildings from the turn of the century, the library was set in the belt of the former city fortification, in close contact with the city walls. Together with the theatre, school and municipal buildings, it defines the cultural and social function of the ring around the historic core, the so-called Ringstrasse, in the line of today's Komenský and Obrněné Brigade streets.

In 2015, almost a century after the library opened, it is clear that the library is morally and functionally ageing. In view of the general trends, where libraries are now experiencing a renaissance and taking on other cultural and social functions, becoming public spaces for meeting, education, and information, as well as for the transmission of experiences, it is clear that its importance is growing. 

The spatial and functional possibilities of the historic building are now exhausted and the current concept of such an institution cannot be imagined without modernisation and extension.

The preservation of the site is essential in terms of context and historical tradition. It cannot be ignored that the library was a private gift to the Chebans and has earned a special place in the context of the historic core. It is therefore not possible to consider another site and another building. However, it is essential to conceive of the reconstruction and extension as a sensitive intervention in the historic environment, which will at the same time hold and develop the image of this institution in the context of the city.

The submitted proposal for the modernization and expansion of the library is based on several principles:

- the extension is not intended to compete with the authentic historic building, but rather to strengthen it as a symbol of an authentic library

- the library modifications should preserve and reinforce the walled belt as a clear and legible contour of the historic town

- the library must be morally modernised, to enable the current ideas of the library to be fulfilled, to increase the capacity for acquisitions, to enable the development of an accompanying social and scientific programme, to make the library accessible to the disabled. The modernisation is intended to strengthen the importance and use of the library in the everyday life of the city and thus to strengthen the importance of the place itself

- the modernisation should take advantage of the site's potential to complement the green parkland and integrate it into the citywide green space system

- modernisation should use the potential of the site to open up previously residual intimate urban spaces (making the moat accessible by linking it to the passage behind and under the ditch)

- modernisation should use the potential of the site to strengthen the 'ringstrasse', the ring behind the ring wall with important city buildings, creating a cultural and social precinct

The proposal therefore seeks to reorganise the internal layout of the library, to address its closer barrier-free connection to the public realm, and to initiate changes throughout the site.

Cheb Public Library

Remodeling and Extension of the Public Library in Cheb
CZ, Cheb — 2018
library
investor, client
Město CHEB
architect
Boris Redčenkov, Prokop Tomášek, Jaroslav Wertig
team, collaboration
Jitka Macáková, Zuzana Bartasová, David Poloch, Pavla Enochová
visualization
obrazek.org - Michal Nohejl

In 1911, a new library building was handed over to the public in Cheb. It was donated to the town by the Cheb businessman Dominik Kreuzinger. The building was designed in Art Nouveau style by architect Max Loos from Teplice and was one of the first buildings in Austria-Hungary built specifically for this function. 

Like most important public buildings from the turn of the century, the library was set in the belt of the former city fortification, in close contact with the city walls. Together with the theatre, school and municipal buildings, it defines the cultural and social function of the ring around the historic core, the so-called Ringstrasse, in the line of today's Komenský and Obrněné Brigade streets.

In 2015, almost a century after the library opened, it is clear that the library is morally and functionally ageing. In view of the general trends, where libraries are now experiencing a renaissance and taking on other cultural and social functions, becoming public spaces for meeting, education, and information, as well as for the transmission of experiences, it is clear that its importance is growing. 

The spatial and functional possibilities of the historic building are now exhausted and the current concept of such an institution cannot be imagined without modernisation and extension.

The preservation of the site is essential in terms of context and historical tradition. It cannot be ignored that the library was a private gift to the Chebans and has earned a special place in the context of the historic core. It is therefore not possible to consider another site and another building. However, it is essential to conceive of the reconstruction and extension as a sensitive intervention in the historic environment, which will at the same time hold and develop the image of this institution in the context of the city.

The submitted proposal for the modernization and expansion of the library is based on several principles:

- the extension is not intended to compete with the authentic historic building, but rather to strengthen it as a symbol of an authentic library

- the library modifications should preserve and reinforce the walled belt as a clear and legible contour of the historic town

- the library must be morally modernised, to enable the current ideas of the library to be fulfilled, to increase the capacity for acquisitions, to enable the development of an accompanying social and scientific programme, to make the library accessible to the disabled. The modernisation is intended to strengthen the importance and use of the library in the everyday life of the city and thus to strengthen the importance of the place itself

- the modernisation should take advantage of the site's potential to complement the green parkland and integrate it into the citywide green space system

- modernisation should use the potential of the site to open up previously residual intimate urban spaces (making the moat accessible by linking it to the passage behind and under the ditch)

- modernisation should use the potential of the site to strengthen the 'ringstrasse', the ring behind the ring wall with important city buildings, creating a cultural and social precinct

The proposal therefore seeks to reorganise the internal layout of the library, to address its closer barrier-free connection to the public realm, and to initiate changes throughout the site.