On 12. April 2008 the new central library opened in Hjørring and it has attracted superlatives from critics in the Danish library press. The library is described as Denmark’s most exciting example of a 21. century public library, as the most spectacular and ultimate library for experience and a place ‘to be’. Quite a feat when you consider that the library has actually only been in the melting pot for about 18 months. The success is due to an extremely fortunate combination of the library staff’s well-formulated visions and dreams about the library of the 21. century, a well-reputed and inquisitive library design company (BCI) and some ‘wild’ artists (Bosch & Fjord).

The library is placed on the first floor of a shopping centre with 40 shops and underground parking facilities for 500
cars.We have had no influence on the architectural aspect, but have been able to bring maximum influence to bear
on the interior design.

Visions and dreams

It was patently clear to us that the library as a physical space had to be redefined if it were to compete/supplement
the patrons’ use of digital and virtual information and experience opportunities. The library space had to be turned into a place which naturally contained our materials, but where these were mediated much more aggressively,
in a more exciting way and in surroundings and contexts that would induce the user to settle down, concentrate, be inspired and tempted. We knew that already today 50% of the patrons do not come to borrow materials, but use the library for quite different purposes.

We had several overriding approaches. First and foremost we saw the library in the shopping centre as what researchers’ call “The third place” – the place that is not home and not work, but a meeting place, the square in the
free space where one goes to watch, to be seen, to experience, learn, play and ‘be’. We wanted a library space in transformation. We found inspiration in the theatre that all the time must stage new plays, which is why there also had to be room for ‘props and set pieces’ and ‘actors and assistant stage managers’.

We decided to work with the three concepts - ‘stage, store of set pieces and backstage’ – where stage was the variable and magic space in which users would meet the library. Finally, we were very impressed by Danish architect Jan Gehl, who i.a. concerns himself with the question of why one cannot design towns with large, straight planes, because human beings are born to move at 5 and not 50 kilometres an hour, that people cannot thrive in the tyranny
of straight lines, but want nooks, angles, hideouts and edges.We wanted a room that encouraged you to settle
down, to learn and experience and which in the children’s department also provided inspiration for using the body.
We wanted many ‘rooms’ in the large room so that everyone would be able to find their ‘strawberry patch’.

We combined the above with the wish to mediate the materials with ‘the face’ and not the back towards the users.We wanted to create the possibilities for a much stronger indirect mediation through exhibition equipment and artefacts.

Take 2 artists ...

For the realisation of the library’s dreams we chose the firm Bosch & Fjord. Rosan Bosch and Rune Fjord are two artists who are incredibly devoted to applying and developing art that can be used by human beings. Over the years the firm has expanded with designers and architects.
Bosch & Fjord had never handled a total design of a library but we brought them in together with BCI who are used to handling large library design projects. At a workshop in the spring of 2007 we managed to provide each other with
enough input for Bosch & Fjord to return in August and present the basic concept for the library of the future.

Together we decided to be pretentious enough to insist on becoming the PIVOTAL POINT OF THE TOWN, from which red veins/tentacles were to stretch out and lead people to the
library. This is where what today is synonymous with Hjørring Library came into being – namely the red ribbon, a mediatory element which in quite concrete terms winds it way through the library, sometimes in the floor and sometimes moving up from the floor turning into tilted shelves, bookcases, exhibition furniture, seats, gates, tables with bar stools, librarian service points etc. And sometimes it just grows into the air and is art.
It twists and turns through and round bookcases, furniture and other equipment and installations.

We decided that the library’s three key areas should be: The town’s meeting place, the town’s undisturbed work place and the town’s source of inspiration and mediation.
If this was our objective, we had to face three challenges: how to combine activity & contemplation in the same room? How to handle age groups? And finally, how to mediate?
The mediation was partly managed with the red ribbon, but is supplemented with orange theme niches, books
exhibited from floor to ceiling in certain places as well a quite a number of other examples of curiosities.
Activity and contemplation we handled by designing the room so that the design in itself signalled the acceptable level of noise. And finally we chose designs that would mean that children and adults are not directed to their separate ‘reservations’, but in fact are moving around in each other’s zones. Generally speaking, the library has undergone a rejuvenation, and it has been a great pleasure for us to see young people ‘capture’ the library once again.

A little guided tour

To mention the many details of the design would take up more space than is available to me here, but let me take
you for a little walk. At the entrance we meet the large, broad red ribbon in the floor, which leads across a square and up to the large service counter. ‘Welcome’ is says in enormous letters. On the way we have passed the lounge on our left with its smart sofas, magazines and a screen with news, TV and artwork. Also new materials are introduced on the ribbon. On our right we have the café which has become immensely popular. The red thread leads
us on past bright orange-coloured study cells with green liane pattern on the glass to a pink conversation piece
of furniture by Play station, film and games. Here we also find the poem staircase. In the middle of the room one of the set pieces stores is hidden behind bookcases from floor to ceiling (which you need ladders to reach) and where the books on a par with the best booksellers are exhibited with their fronts facing outwards. Here you also find the orange theme niches – one for sound, one for picture and one for
objects.When we have moved far into the library, the bookcases change colour from white to mahogany.
We have now arrived in the open stack – a classical library environment with chesterfield chairs and a very long reading room table with a green streak of light.

The children’s library is an orgy in opportunities for self-expression, both physically and contemplatively.
Here is Pipi’s hideout surrounded by a large green field,
a bubble wall with reading tubes, a roller coaster bookcase,
a gigantic ‘puddle’ of krøyer-balls where you can sprawl. But also electronic installations like ‘the quibbler’, ‘critic’s box’ and ‘the animator’. Naturally, we have also created a V.I.P. corner – ‘Very Important Parents’ – where adults can
enjoy a café latte and browse through exciting magazines and relevant books.

Our very brief tour has now taken us back to the café which is adjacent to the library’s Multi-Hall with room for 200 people. Hall, foyer and café also have their own entrance and can be used outside the library’s opening hours.

But why not follow the red thread and come and visit us? We are looking forward to seeing you.

FACTS:
Total area: 5,090 m2
For the public incl. Café: 3,450 m2
Multi Hall: 360 m2
Staff and set pieces store: 1,250 m2
Total expenses for establishment: DKK 13 mil.
Number of inhabitants in Hjørring Municipality: 68,000

Børge Søndergaard,
head of development
Hjørring Library

boerge.soendergaard@hjoerring.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield