Biblioteket – The Library

 At the top of one of Copenhagen’s highest points, you will see a new library designed to resemble a staggered stack of books. This was the first combined cultural center and library of its kind in Denmark.

Driving through the Nordvest district of Copenhagen, The Library (Biblioteket) is recognisable by its four giant golden boxes, reminiscent of books stacked on top of each other. Its glass and gilded expanded aluminium cladding sparkles in the daylight, giving it a radiant appearance even on a rainy day.

It’s a cultural beacon that is much more than the name implies. An extension of an exciting culture house combined with a library and a concert hall, it houses a café, citizens’ services and conference rooms, and has a lively forecourt with space for recreational activities.

The multi-functional building provides different ways to interact and there is a constant buzz on its walkways, staircases and in its multi-purpose areas and small niches: children climb the green-and-white box shelves in the so-called cave; youngsters hang out in their cool silvery library; and adults can read peacefully in dark leather chairs set within warmer hues and pale wood shelving.

Both the exterior and the raw concrete interior walls are exquisitely decorated by the distinctive naive work of the Danish artist HuskMitNavn, whose humorous drawings bring huge smiles to visitors’ faces.