The Water-Reservoir Library

The Library at Barcelona's University Pompeu Fabra is a converted water reservoir¹.

The reservoir, the ‘Diposit de les Aigues’, was constructed in 1874. It is unusual in that the volume of water was held high off the ground, supported by a dense grid of brick columns. Arches span the columns to create a rhythmic and soaring canopy above the readers.

The structure contains reading tables, shelving, precast concrete platforms and lighting, which barely touch the existing brick.

At certain points towers penetrate the vaulted ceiling, to emerge above the pool of water. Inverted mirrored pyramids have been installed at the top of the towers, to reflect the rippling sunlit water inside onto the bricks².

The library is a repository for water, which has traveled and passed through many states and bodies. And in a strange and incompatible manner, underneath the water the library is a repository for books, with their fragile and irreparable nature.

Notes:

¹Renovation by Architects Lluis Clotet and lgnacio Paricio Ansuategui

²Or at least one could imagine this ripple effect if the water hadn’t been drained when I visited. Perhaps the thought of coming into a floating library one morning, the shelves reflected perfectly in a displaced plane of water, was too much for the maintenance team to bear.

Maps of the Archive

Phase change graphs above. Phase change transforms the object as it is received into the Library.

A Map of the Archive based on the Periodic Table. The librarians use the Periodic Table to catalogue the objects. The Periodic Table attempts to describe the universe, yet there are gaps and flaws through which some particles pass right on by.