RIGA | National Latvian Library | Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka | 66m | 13fl | T/O

[Martins]

National Latvian Library
LNL - Castle of Light
Riga - Latvia





The building is pyramidal in form, and each floor is smaller than the previous. Library departments will be placed in the building so that the most often visited areas are on the lower floors.
The LNB building is to have 13 floors and some 40,000 m2 of floor space.
The new LNB building will have room for more than 1,000 readers, and services will be provided to as many as 3,000 people a day. There will be free access to 335,000 books and other print works from among the library’s collection of six million titles. Global information resources will be made available to every visitor to the library, including those with special needs. In the public area on the lower floors of the building, there will be a museum devoted to Latvian book publishing, along with exhibition halls and space for conferences and similar events. Scholars and students will not lack the decisive hour to complete their work late at night – there will be a zone in the library which will be open on a 24/7 basis.

Building Info:

Height: 68.3m | 12(1)fl
Construction dates: 2008-2012
Building use: Library, Office, Restaurant, Concert Hall

ONLINE WEBCAM: http://www.gaismaspils.lv/gp/tiesraide.php?l=en
WEBSITE: www.gaismaspils.lv
DIAGRAM: http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=9800

[Rebasepoiss]

The design looks aged.

[Icantthinkofaname]

Originally Posted by Rebasepoiss

The design looks aged.

This project is from 1989, what did you expected to see...


Night vision

[Sideshow_Bob]

Originally Posted by Icantthinkofaname

This project is from 1989, what did you expected to see...

The planning process has taken 19 years??

[LV994-CB]

Originally Posted by Rebasepoiss

The design looks aged.

Actually i think that the architect designed building that its design wouldn't age for at least 100 years

[Nomels]

[Triceratops]

I hope 135 million lats will be used not for nothing and such sum of money is really going to make worthwhile building.

[Nõgesh]

I hope they'll modernise this building while it's u/c.

[mic of Orion]

nice project

[Gatis]

Noo, with government approval+state financing was lingering for 19 years. Public in general does not want this building, that's the problem - from one side and from other side - it is needed if we want to boost our development. This building has costed some political careers already. Costs also seem insane - at one moment they amounted to half a billion lats (some 700 mio EUR), now they are at some 160 mio EUR.

[Icantthinkofaname]

Live webcam from construction site

http://www.gaisma.lv/enn//webcam/peldu/
http://www.gaisma.lv/enn//webcam/valguma/

[Rebasepoiss]

I'm not saying it looks bad. It just doesn't fit into the year 2008. In 20 years that's irrelevant, of course.

[Jarmo K]

Originally Posted by Martins

Building use: Concert Hall

how big is it? maybe you can use it as an alternative to the szk project? or at least for the next +20 years, when they'll finally start building the acoustic concert hall. x 10000

anyway. i really despise the decision to build the library according to the 1989 design...

[RipleyLV]

I wonder how many people will visit this biulding: library, office, restaurant, concert hall that all fits in this huge biulding? I don't think so, i think the 1st floor is going to be the concert hall with a resaurant, the second floor will be THE LIBRARY, but remainig eleven floors: shops and offices!!!

[Gatis]

I don't think so, i think the 1st floor is going to be the concert hall with a resaurant, the second floor will be THE LIBRARY, but remainig eleven floors: shops and offices!!!

Have you ever been in current libraries (they are in several places) - how tight it is there, how little air is there for the many people, who work there?
Have you been in large libraries in other (developed) countries?

Sorry, I forgot that I am the naive man, the serious man are unhappy and very suspicious about everything. I can announce - I will be the happy user when this library finally will be built.

[Nomels]

Originally Posted by Gatis

Sorry, I forgot that I am the naive man, the serious man are unhappy and very suspicious about everything. I can announce - I will be the happy user when this library finally will be built.

Me too, me too, bro, I just hope it will not upset me with the books available there ... or I should say with books not available there.

[RipleyLV]

Originally Posted by Gatis

Have you ever been in current libraries (they are in several places) - how tight it is there, how little air is there for the many people, who work there?

Yeah, i live near a library, and I go there to find the books that I need for school! Yeah, and you Gatis think that all library workers will go work in this huge place? Because of the little air in old ones? But what then will hapen to other small libraries?

Originally Posted by Gatis

Have you been in large libraries in other (developed) countries?

No, I haven't.

[Mantas]

What's up with LV forumers recently? Some identity crisis or what is?

[Nomels]

Summer depression Thanks for cheering up

[RipleyLV]

Oh, and those 135 million lats, they should better invest in reconstructing current libraries or buying new books for schools you know how they are needed!