S L U B

During his lecture on November 16, 2001, at TUD, the more technically oriented of the Ortner brothers presented three projects that were just being completed: Museumsquartier in Vienna, Schiffbau in Zurich, and SLUB in Dresden. Throughout, he tried to avoid the terms architecture or art. "We are engineers who strive to meet the needs of the client." In the end, everyone understood that the pose of the obedient engineer is just part of the image. What is, for example, awaiting approval from the Vienna conservationists and building officials is far beyond the limits of humility and mere function. Museumsquartier will crazily expand.
Back to Dresden. After the new lecture hall center and the Faculty of Chemistry, the state and university library was completed, which had previously been scattered across 15 buildings throughout the city. By merging three institutions (Saxon State, Land, and University), a library of European significance has been created with more than seven million volumes and data carriers. The building itself outwardly displays only two equally sized stone blocks (47x16.5x19m), which stand on a grassy area and serve as warehouses. The rest takes place underground. Between the two blocks is a skylight for the reading room of the same footprint. The reading room is also the central element of the three-story underground plinth, which extends beneath the lawn of the former sports field. The library itself occupies a total area of 40,000 m².
The O&O concept forces a parallel to be sought in Perrault's library in Paris. However, in Dresden, formal glass towers do not rise, but rather stone shelves on the arms of the library. The design does not fulfill a representative task, but is a response to the site. Valuable trees, located four meters above the level of the main entrance, have been preserved on the site. The motif of the book has been imprinted in stone. The grand opening took place in April, and the doors for regular students will open at the beginning of the new school year.