Amsterdam Public Library

Amsterdam Public Library (OBA) was designed by Jo Coenen & Co Architekten located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The situation with respect to the OBA was quite a different one. A totally new urban development, of which the OBA was the first building to be constructed, is now emerging on the spot where the Central Station post office used to be, of which the high-rise building, known by the name of Post CS, is now the only remnant. Consequently, the library could not adapt itself to an existing context, but had to anticipate its future surroundings. Jo Coenen’s solution has been to search for a connection to what the future context might be, to predict which sensations might be evoked by those new surroundings.

The urban development plan for Oosterdokseiland consists of abstract outlines of alignments and alternating building heights that had to be strictly adhered to, with little more to go by than the fact that the location would eventually be defined by a water square at the southern side, and by railway lines at the northern side. Because of the area’s central location in Amsterdam, and as he was convinced that the library would become an important spot within that specific area, Jo Coenen designed the OBA as an urban meeting place, starting at the square in front of the building with the stairsleading up to the main entrance.

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