Ruin : the library reimagined

Abstract

In his readings, “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life” Friedrich Nietzsche discusses how a “critical approach to history” allows the past to be used as a vital force for future life and action. Such assumptions have led me to consider how the ruins of the old Hamm’s brewery complex in St. Paul, Minnesota is a compelling site for the design of a new rare books library, inspired by Bazon Brock’s notion that “one can only understand the known from the new; one can only experience the new with a new view of the old.” The design of the new library will support the experience of the past by giving precedence to the sharing of knowledge and ideas. This will occur within spaces that explore paradoxical relationships between past and present: where the ruin of the old brewery is supported by new architectural renovations, and where the foundations of the old design support the new program. Likewise, the sophisticated systems of technology needed to house many of the very rare books and old manuscripts may create tensions between the traditional understanding of a library and its inevitable future, posing a challenge to modern assumptions regarding time as something progressive and linear.