Biblioteca Vasconcelos

Opened in 2006 to a design by Alberto Kalach, the Vasconcelos Library was conceived as a "megabiblioteca" for a reading republic - and the building delivers one of the great interior spaces of the century. A concrete-and-glass nave over 250 metres long holds its half-million books in steel stacks that hang from the structure in stepped tiers, so the shelves appear to float in a canyon of walkways, with readers visible through the grating like figures in a Piranesi print. Suspended in the central void hangs Gabriel Orozco's Matrix Movil - the skeleton of a grey whale overpainted with graphite rings - the library's improbable heart. Translucent marble panels filter the light, reading desks line the balconies, and the whole sits in a botanical garden of native planting that muffles the rail yards outside. It is a working public library first: free, full of students, and open to anyone who wants to walk the stacks and look down through the steel.

History

The library opened on 16 May 2006 but had to close in March 2007 because of construction defects, and it reopened to the public in November 2008 after 22 months of repairs (Wikipedia, Biblioteca Vasconcelos).

What to look for

• The hanging stacks - tiers of steel shelving floating through the nave.
• The whale - Orozco's Matrix Movil, a graphite-ringed skeleton in the void.
• The marble light - translucent panels glowing along the walls.
• The garden - native greenery wrapping the concrete hull.

When to go

Any day; weekday mornings are quietest for photography, weekend afternoons fullest of city life. The interior works in all weather - a perfect rainy-day hour.

Before you go

It is a functioning library - silence is expected on reading floors and tripods draw staff attention. Casual photography is generally tolerated; be discreet with people in frame. The neighborhood outside is transit-busy rather than strollable.

Nearby

The Kiosco Morisco and Geology Museum are ten minutes west; the Monumento a la Revolucion fifteen south.

Key facts