Architecture Network Noa* in Bolzano and Architecture Studio in Berlin have proposed
a floating organic library surrounded by a pair of mountain structures within part of the Porta Vittoria Park in Milan, Italy.
Design Features
The project was called the Tree of Knowledge, and it was designed for a competition organized by the Municipality of Milan and the BEIC Foundation.
The competition brief asked the participants to not only design a new cultural center
but also initiate an urban renewal process in an area undergoing radical transformation, the Porta Vittoria station area.
The noa* design scheme aimed to challenge traditional library styles and proposed a new cultural center
that evokes a surreal setting of rooftop woods and books flying through a ring-shaped floating ceiling.
The design puts the visitor in an excellent condition to venture into new and unknown worlds.
Designed as part of Porta Vittoria Park, making accessibility one of the project’s main points,
the project’s starting point was to “research into the meaning, use,
and features of a 21st century library,” according to the studio.
Design shape
The building consists of a mixture of different geometries: a zigzag volume that combines the different functions of the building,
a pair of two mountain structures that carry the library’s floating roof and a unique elevator.
Described as a cultural center, the complex has nine levels in total.
Studio noa* has reimagined the building as a ‘Centre of Creativity’,
with the goal of creating a stimulating environment to free the mind and gain new knowledge.
The organic wave of the ceiling becomes the stylistic signature of the library,
rising unexpectedly from a blossoming garden.
Noa* wanted to make volume be seen more broadly than urban gardens,
of which BEIC is a key element.
Although the architecture of the library is considered an introverted architecture,
the volume outside the grounds also expands over a portion of Porta Vittoria Park, making accessibility one of the main points of the project.
While the main volume is located on the first level, a meandering promenade allows full traversal of the building.
In an evocative spatial experience, the visitor is invited to discover the rich functional program on Inner Avenue.
Access to the exterior, a natural continuation of the interior spaces, is provided on each floor.
The circular study room seats up to 200 people, with a 360-degree view of Milan,
closing the building vertically.
To reach it, one climbs a unique elevator, a convenient tower of books,
picked up as needed by an automated system.
A building climbing a tree in a lush garden
It is through this amazing spectacle of transporting books that the highest point of BEIC is reached.
According to the studio, the building “looks like it’s climbing a tree after walking through a lush garden”.
And it is no accident, because the archetype that inspired the team of architects
is the Garden of Eden, where the tree of knowledge of good and evil grows.
The biblical episode associated with it is perhaps one of the accounts that philosophers have most often drawn upon to depict humanity.
According to Hegel, by eating the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge,
Eve was the first person to stand apart from the animals, gaining awareness and intent in doing so.
When Eve became interested in the unknown, paraphrased, libraries found their raison d’être.
On the rooftop of BEIC, studio noa* wanted to recreate an earthly Eden,
where the office could celebrate the beauty of knowledge and continually encourage people to reach for unknown worlds.
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