Seitliche Ansicht über den Platz

Architectural Award City of Essen

In 2015, the Folkwang Library received the architectural award of the City of Essen.

Jury Statement:

The Folkwang Library rounds off the baroque building ensemble of the Ehrenhof of the Universität der Künste (Court of Honour of the University of the Arts). The valuable inventory of the University Library has been given an appropriate new home here. The spatial structure of the library and its commensurate purpose, with its concentrated, inwardly-focussed atmosphere, has been interpreted here in a contemplative way, and resolutely developed from the inside outwards: additional functional areas are grouped in layers around the temple-like, three-storey reading room at its core. Particularly noteworthy is the aesthetically original and artful façade: a glass façade on which photos of a quarry have been applied on a life-size scale. During the day, soft, filtered light falls through the translucent façade into the interior; at night, lit up from the inside, the building glows mysteriously into the urban space. With this poetic solitaire, the Werden district and the city of Essen have acquired a piece of contemporary architecture of international rank. For this library building the constructors and architects deservedly won the architecture prize of the city of Essen 2015.