GOLD PRIZES WINNER
Project Name:
White Cube of Light
Entrant Company:
Extreme Beam Architectural Design Studio
Designer:
Hunter James
Crober Reuters
Ho-Mang Lee
Category:
Architectural Design – Public Buildings
Client:
Barcelona City Private Library
Country / Region:
Barcelona, Spain
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Description of White Cube of Light
The library stands quietly on the city’s edge, a striking and pure presence amidst the urban bustle. From a distance, it appears as a colossal, precisely cut cube, commanding attention with its minimalist form. The designers embraced “The Cube” as a core concept, treating the building as a clear, structural vessel for knowledge. Every floor and every space adheres to a strict geometric logic, stripped of unnecessary ornamentation to reveal only the purest lines and shapes.
White Cube of Light emphasis on “The Void” creates an open, serene, and almost sacred atmosphere.
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Upon closer inspection, the building’s walls are revealed not as a solid mass, but as a mosaic of countless “Square Windows” of varying sizes. Arranged in an irregular pattern, they break the cube’s visual weight and allow light to penetrate, creating a dynamic, three-dimensional space of light and shadow. By day, sunlight casts ever-shifting patterns of light onto the floor, acting as both the hands of a clock and the brushes of a painter. At night, the library’s internal light shines through the windows, transforming the entire structure into a giant, glowing beacon of wisdom—a monumental lantern lit for the city’s readers.
However, the library’s most profound design philosophy lies in its use of “The Void.” The interior is not packed with bookshelves but is intentionally designed with vast, high-ceilinged spaces and a central atrium. A massive void in the center extends all the way to the roof, where sunlight pours down onto the spiral bookshelves arranged around it. This emphasis on “The Void” creates an open, serene, and almost sacred atmosphere. It allows readers, even in the midst of a vast ocean of books, to find space for introspection and to feel a sense of calm. The design reminds us that the end of knowledge is not a crowded set of answers, but an endless journey of thought and exploration, offering infinite possibilities just like the space itself.
