[Frame]Columbia University NYP 2013Michael Phillips

Place de Victor-HugoRue Copernic

Reservoirs de Passy

Dense clusters of pedestrians indicating usage

the site is dead

water andopen space

enclosure stone

ProgramThe most heavily traveled routes in between Place de Victor Hugo and Place Charles de Gaulle are Rue Copernic, Avenue Klber and Avenue Victor-Hugo. Les Reservoirs de Passy are hidden by apartment buildings between Rue Copernic to the South and Rue Paul Valery to the North. The most dense clusters of people near the Reservoirs de Passy were found in front of cafs, restaurants, salons, hotels and pharmacies lining Rue Copernic and Place de Victor-Hugo. These high traffic nodes make Rue Copernic the busiest road with access to the site. However, pedestrians who travel along the roads surrounding the Reservoirs de Passy unaware of its presence. The massive stone walls on the East appear stark and austere and do not hint at what is behind them. The Reservoir to the west is nestled in be-tween the houses and cannot be seen from the road. To most pedestrians, the site does not even seem to exist. The goal of the library will be to activate the Reservoirs de Passy by bringing the public into it and it back to the public. The most important elements of the reservoir are its enclosure by the surrounding urban fabric, the water, the massive stone materiality and the open spaces or voids. The voids are found in the spaces created by the vaults and the open expanses created by the nature of the large reservoirs. We will activate this dead site by setting in motion one of the core elements: water. Flowing water is mesmerizing, natural and magical and will serve as constant visual activity. Water will cascade down the stone faades of the site on the exterior and on the interior will flow down several shoots, penetrating several layers of the building bringing this beauty and activity and light with it. The entrance will be located on Rue Copernic behind a glass wall. Visitors will enter the library and find themselves in a two-story high atrium, with the stone vaults serving as the ceiling and structural support for the third floor. In the center is an enormous circular void, allowing sunlight to pierce through the reservoir and the library so that the sky is framed and the visitor can appreciate the reservoirs massiveness, as well as the experience of being framed in a void. Since the Passy area has no vast spaces like this, the atrium will hold exhibitions, galas, formal parties or any large events. The reading room is housed in the space where water-filled tanks currently sit. The circular void cre-ates many nooks and oddly shaped rooms which add to varying degrees of privacy for the library patron. The most private reading rooms are accessed via stairs from this level, where the patron ascends up to a private glass cube a story above, which is completely surrounded by water. Stairs lead from the main reading room up to the top floor where a glass reading room sits, seemingly floating on water. The Eifel tower can be easily seen from this vantage point. A large caf sits on the north side of this glass structure, facing the lawn which is left natural to sit as a natural oasis away from the urban fabric of Paris.

The most heavily traveled routes of the site

Rue Copernic

Aven

ue K

lbe

r

Aven

ue V

ictor

-Hug

o

Place de Vic-tor-Hugo

Reservoirs de Passy

Master Plan

Circulation

Distribution

Project concept.

stone Paris

Level 1

N

N

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

PLANNING

40 meters

40 meters

40 meters

40 meters

40 meters

80 meters

N

ATRIUM

READING ROOMSTUDY

CINEMA LOBBY

GLASS READING ROOM & CAFE

CINEMACINEMA LOBBY

GLASS READING ROOM CAFE

READING ROOM

LOBBY

READING ROOMREADING ROOMREADING ROOM

ENTRY

ATRIUM

CLOAK

STAFF

CINEMA LOBBY

CINEMA

LEARNING LAB

RAM

P

CO

MM

ERC

IAL

CO

MM

ERC

IAL

WC

OPEN TO BELOW AND ABOVE

LIBRARY LOBBY

WCWC READING ROOM

STUDY

STUDY

STUDY STUDY

STUDY

STUDY

PROMENADE

PROM

ENAD

E

PROM

ENA

DE

RAMP

STUDY

STUDY

STUDY

OPEN TO BELOW AND ABOVE

READING ROOM REA

DIN

G R

OO

M

CAF

LAWN

OPEN TO BELOW AND ABOVE

OPEN TO BELOW AND ABOVE

READING ROOM

READING ROOM

READING ROOM

READING ROOM

ATRIUM LEVEL TWO/OPEN TO BELOW

OPEN TO BELOW AND ABOVE

CINEMA

C

C

CC

B

B

B B

A

AA A

The physical structure of the library that is not embedded in the reservoir is a glass cube measuring 40 meters on each side. With this translucent material patrons can read while experiencing the city of Paris in a whole new way. This previously inaccessible zone of the city will become a public park; an oasis of nature in the busy urban fabric. Sitting in the cafe, reading on the lawn or watching and listening to the water moving will be a calming cathartic experience. While patrons may relax, it is the structure embedded and constructed out of the reservoir that is now successfully activated using the materiality and elements that already existed at the site.

GRAND FLOOR PLAN

Sections

Floor Plan

Floor Plan Floor Plan

Floor Plan

Exterior perspective view looking Northeast from Rue Copernic

In the urban core, this is a unique and memorable building not just as a library but as an experience. The massive stone material looks like it will last forever, which gives freedom for what can be sculpted out of the shell. By choosing a minimal exterior design, we are keeping the memory of the place alive retention of the reservoirs natural state.

The library atriumLooking up from outside the cinema

View of reading rooms and large reservoir from the caf Initial conceptual sketchs of atrium