The building is to house the library of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam, in an absolutely central area –within the network of seventeenth century concentric canals– and in a very special zone that was first a convent and later a hospital. Of the two buildings that occupy the plot –the Zusterhuis and Tweede Chirurgische Kliniek, both of which were constructed around an interior courtyard in various phases at the end of nineteenth century– the project opts to maintain the first and demolish the second.

An apparently arbitrary figure is organized from a unitary body encompassing the Zuisterhuis on Nieuwe Doelenstraat, in order to later divide into several irregular bodies. There is nothing free in this proposal: the clefts that divide the building increase throughout the length of the façade, and therefore the well-lit areas, and incorporate the building within the main circulations that traverse the “campus”, situating the accesses at the bottom.

This being a library, the building has multiple entries on the ground floor, one at the bottom of each fissure, which allows access to the areas that don’t have contact with the collection – café, auditorium, and studios– while the entry control itself occurs only later, in front of the elevators leading to the upper floors.

From the long dimension along Nieuwe Doelenstraat one passes through the lower level towards the interior of the block. The intersection of the sloping roof with the irregular perimeter of the building will offer ever-changing views. This roof allows one to see a building that is unexpectedly low towards the interior of the block, avoiding prejudice to the homes on the perimeter.

Beneath the sloping roof, a series of trays are situated, decreasing in height and with a strict geometry –parallel to Nieuwe Doelenstraat– that makes the intersection with the irregular perimeter of the envelope more dramatic. The reading areas are arranged in the vicinity of the facades and in areas directly under the large roof light.