Moebius Strip National Library Rising in Kazakhstan's Capital

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(ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN) -- Construction is continuing on the National Library of Kazakhstan in the capital Astana even as winter settles in. It was designed by the BIG architectural firm from Copenhagen which back in August won an open international design competition with 19 entrants who included Lord Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid.  

Named after the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the library encloses an estimated 33,000 square meters of space. BIG's design was chosen by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov together with Astana's Mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov and a council of architects. They called the design both modern and rational and anchored in a classical vocabulary of traditional libraries.

According to Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner on the project, "The design of the National Library combines four universal archetypes across space and time into a new national symbol: the circle, the rotunda, the arch and the yurt are merged into the form of a Moebius strip." Yurts are the traditional round homes built on Kazakhstan's plains. A Moebius strip is a continuous loop without beginning or end.

"The clarity of the circle, the courtyard of the rotunda, the gateway of the arch, and the soft silhouette of the yurt are combined to create a new national monument appearing local and universal, contemporary and timeless, unique and archetypal at the same time," added Ingels.

As one of the future cornerstones of Kazakh nation building, and a leading institution representing Kazakh national identity, the National Library which was founded in 1910 became more than an architectural challenge. Astana itself is a new city, created to be the capital as recently as 1997.  The new version of the National Library is supposed to not only collect history but also provide a foundation for the future of the nation and its new capital.

The project was assigned by the Office of the President of Kazakhstan in order to establish a significant place where citizens of Astana, citizens of Kazakhstan, and international visitors can come to explore the country's history, its diverse cultures, and its new capital. The Library will accommodate and communicate with all segments of the population: civil servants, politicians, researchers, students, museum historians and staff.

The Library is organized to demonstrate the combination of urban life and nature. Like Astana which is located in the heart of the Kazakh mainland, it will be integrated into the heart of a re-created Kazakh landscape. The park around the library is designed to be a living library of trees, plants, minerals, and rocks allowing visitors to experience a cross section of Kazakhstan's natural landscape, and recognize the capital's transition across the country from its previous location in Almaty in the western part of the country to Astana.

"What is a library but an efficient archive of books... and a path for the public to reach them," said Thomas Christoffersen, the Project Leader for the National Library. Visitors will be able to study the history of the Kazakh culture and language in the massive collection of books, magazines, films, and other media organized as a circular loop of knowledge, surrounded by light and air on both sides.

On the outer wall is a 360 degree panorama of the bustle of Astana. The heart of the building is a quiet courtyard with a light blue dome high above, a place for contemplation and rest. The simplicity of the infinite circle design allows for intuitive orientation in the vast 5.5 million items and increasing collection that will grow on the shelves of the National Library.

The ideal addition to the perfect circle will be a series of honeycomb openings that simultaneously wrap the library on the outside as well as the inside, above as well as below. Twisting the honeycombs into a continuous spiraling path that traces the library on all sides creates an architectural organization that combines the virtues of all four complimentary models.

Like a Moebius strip, the honeycomb openings move seamlessly from the inside to the outside and from ground to the sky, providing spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and emerging city skyline."The envelope of The National Library transcends the traditional architectural categories such as wall and roof," Christoffersen said. "Like a yurt the wall becomes the roof, which becomes floor, which becomes the wall again."

The two interlocking structures - the perfect circle and the public spiral - create a building that transforms from a horizontal organization where library, museum, and support functions are placed next to each other, to a vertical organization where they are stacked on top of each other, thereby combining vertical hierarchy, horizontal connectivity, and diagonal sight lines. By wrapping the transforming composition of spaces with a continuous skin BIG creates a Möbius strip volume where the facades move from inside to outside and back again.

 

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