Bioteka Openbare Bibliotheek

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The Bioteka project has been hailed in Polish trade media as "probably the greenest library in Europe." It is a project inspired by nature, ecology and the idea of sustainable development. It is important to emphasize that this is a complete project, which means that not only the interior architecture is inspired by nature, but the didactic program implemented by the librarians is focused on promoting an ecological lifestyle and the idea of sustainable development.

Dimensions & Packaging

Bioteka is a personalized branch of Municipal Public Library in Lublin fully dedicated to ecology. It is located almost in the center of the largest city in eastern Poland, Lublin. Its area is 453 square meters, and the collection is almost 30 thousand books.

Tags

library, green, ecology, education, green library, environmental education, green architecture, books

Production Technology

As the inspiration for the project was the Saski Garden, we decided that the materials we would use would be as natural as possible: recycled wood, greenery (collected from the citizens of Lublin), a water wall giving the effect of trickling water and concrete, i.e. contemporary stone

Design Challenge

The place also has an interesting history: in the 60s Fafik was founded there, and then Karczma Slupska (Slupsk Inn), which over the several decades of operation gained a cult status. There is probably no inhabitant of Lublin who does not know it by name. After the inn was closed, the place stood empty for many years. More and more new ideas for its management came up, and social expectations grew. The biggest challenge was the aforementioned social pressure. The media regularly articles appeared regularly in the media causing speculation about what could or should should be built in this place. To be honest, at first I was even afraid of this project because I knew that it would be exposed to enormous criticism, but once we started but once we started designing BIOTEKA we knew that in such a place something special must be created. We put great emphasis on the fact that the library was functional, modern and gave possibility of various uses of its space by creative librarians.

Research

We are probably the only architectural studio in Poland that has created an internal library design system based on user needs analysis and information gathered directly from librarians at meetings with the library community organized by us. The elements that are always in the scope of our library design are the logo and the name. Personally I think that name is like a name and logo is like a face of such library, what makes local communities more willing and easier to identify with such place. The individual character given by the logo and name makes it stand out from the dozens of numbered branches, and brings together communities that feel more connected.

Inspiration

The inspiration came from a very successful revitalization of the 19th century Saxon Garden, also called the green heart of Lublin. The revitalization took place at the turn of 2012/13 and was very positively received by Lubliners. Both the Garden and the Library are located in the very center of Lublin. The Library was to be a kind of year-round extension of the Garden and has an educational mission to build environmental awareness and actively promotes the idea of sustainable development.

Project Duration

Bioteka is a personalized branch of Municipal Public Library in Lublin fully dedicated to ecology. It is located almost in the center of the largest city in eastern Poland. The project was made in 2019 and its realization fell on the turn of 2020/2021. Despite the fact that since the opening of the Library has not passed a year, it is already the winner of Polish and foreign architectural competitions.

Operation Flow

The greatest social value is that the inhabitants of Lublin have gained, in the very center of their city, a modern and "green" cultural institution, actively propagating all ideas connected with ecology. Ecological education is carried out in interiors inspired by nature, which emphasizes the ideological coherence of the Library.
An interesting initiative is also the fact that all plants in Bioteka were collected in a social act from citizens of Lublin. This action met with great interest of the residents and undoubtedly deepened their bond with this place. Anyone can come and see "their" plants inside Bioteka.

Image Credits

Photographer: Piotr Arnoldes