Triangular skylights set into a faceted stainless-steel roof direct daylight into the reading room of this library that Tank Architectes has completed in a converted police station in France .

French studio Tank Architectes was accountable for repurposing the 1930s developing as portion of the development of a new public space at the centre of La Madeleine, a town on the outskirts of Lille.

Associated story: Montauban multimedia library by Colboc Franzen &amp Associés

The original creating faces the central market place square and now provides a cultural hub for the nearby neighborhood.

The 1st step in the police station’s renovation was to make it a lot more accessible to the public by lowering the entrance and the sills of the current windows to street level.

New glazed openings provide views out from the formerly closed gable ends, whilst the old stonework was freshened up with a coat of white paint.

“The facility has been developed as a third location between house and workplace,” the architects told Dezeen. “The existing constructing is largely open to make it much more transparent and to produce a continuous public space on the ground floor.”

A reception region, auditorium, cafe and teaching space are contained in the original developing. An empty triangular plot at the rear of the building provided an chance to expand the facility, so the architects added a big reading space inside a contrasting contemporary structure.

The building’s location at the boundary amongst industrial and much more residential districts influenced the angular shape of the roof, which combines elements from the pitched roofs of typical homes and the sawtoothed profiles of factory buildings.

Skylights atop the truncated pyramidal sections fill the reading area with soft and diffused north light, like in a factory.

Meanwhile, the shapes on the underside are intended to give the interior a far more human scale by evoking the coffered ceilings of libraries in grand townhouses.

“The space is organised by roof variations, which extend and compress the space to give a a lot more personal feel,” explained the architects.

“The result is a calm and peaceful atmosphere inviting everyone to access a variety of media.”

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

Every of the timber roof components was prefabricated in a workshop and assembled on web site. Supporting pillars placed at the intersections of several edges integrate cabling to aid maintain it out of sight.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

The roof is covered externally in stainless steel panels that generate a glimmering surface visible from surrounding buildings, while the underside is clad in perforated plywood to enhance acoustics inside the reading area.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

Glazed curtain walls around the periphery of the space are flanked by a road on one particular side, whilst an additional faces a garden that occupies the gap amongst the reading area and the boundary wall.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

The reading room’s sense of openness is enhanced by a gap between the ceiling and the predominantly low furniture, which permits views across the entire space and towards the town outdoors.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

Long wooden benches along the edges of the space accommodate the air conditioning vents. In locations they rise to produce stepped seating places, which includes 1 nestled in the angular extremity of the area.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

A sliver of space in between the police station and the extension accommodates a sheltered courtyard that is accessible from the cafe and connects with the finish of the garden pathway.

Photograph by Pierre Manuel Rouxel

Photography is by Julien Lanoo unless stated otherwise.

Site plan – Floor strategy – Section 1 – Section two –
Dezeen