Dutch architect Mecanoo has been selected by Macau’s Cultural Affairs Bureau to design a library for the Unesco World Heritage site in the centre of the special region.
Mecanoo won in an architecture competition against ALA Architects, Herzog & de Meuron and Grafton Architects for the 15,000 sq m building, which will be built on the site of the Hotel Estoril.
That hotel, designed by Portuguese architect Alfredo Victor Jorge Ãlvares, was Macau’s first modern casino and featured a mosaic of the Roman goddess Fortuna on the concrete exterior.
Ãlvares’ modernist design inspired the library’s façade, which filters sunlight to moderate the indoor temperature. The image of an open book will be created by the façade’s main entrance on Tap Seac square.
The library will be accessible from the square, through an atrium to a spacious reading rooms situated at the top level of the building.
Images courtesy of Mecanoo
