Embracing great design and architecture, three public institutions from across the globe foster exploration and creativity.

Deichman Bjørvika
Oslo

For Oslo’s new Deichman Bjørvika library, the goal was to create a modern marvel that would invite visitors to explore. Local firms—Atelier Oslo and Lundhagem handled the architecture with Scenario helming interiors—created a bibliophile’s dream on the city’s waterfront next to the Snøhetta-designed opera house. Notable for its upper floor that cantilevers 66 feet out above the plaza, the library is connected by a skylight-illuminated atrium that brings attention to the 450,000 books that wrap the sprawling five-story space. To retain a sense of intimacy, the design team conceived of smaller nooks organized around freestanding book towers, while diagonal voids combine to create a variety of unexpected light-filled spaces.

Utter Space
Beijing

Liu Zongyuan, a prominent figure in Chinese fashion photography, initially approached Beijing firm CUN Design in the hopes of opening a photography studio in an old warehouse from the 1960s. But after a conversation with firm founder Cui Shu, the concept grew into a larger project that integrates Zongyuan’s work with art programs and cultural activities. Spanning three floors, which include a reception hall, studios, and event or exhibition space, Shu preferred to keep the material palette raw and minimal to show off the natural bones of the midcentury building. Take the lobby, where neon tube lights are suspended above an onyx reception desk that glows a luminescent orange—a showstopper that makes an impactful statement about the fantasy that lies within.

MuseumLab
Pittsburgh

In 2006, lightning struck the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny in Pittsburgh and sent a three-ton chunk of granite crashing through the roof. The institution turned to Santa Monica, California firm KEA to spearhead a significant renovation, which revealed original archways, columns, and mosaic flooring. “It became clear that the archeology of the building was poetic and an exhibit in itself about 19th-century construction,” says KEA founding principal and owner Julie Eizenberg. Now the MuseumLab for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the site’s history is celebrated through design elements including former wood shelving repurposed into seating and counters, and structural steel grating upcycled into screens in the lobby and gallery. “Instead of removing the eccentricities of the old building, we took the opportunity to embrace [the setting]. Interventions were stripped away,” Eizenberg says. “This sense of discovery foreshadows the one the kids have as they experience the [space].”

Photography by Einar Aslaksen, Ting Wang, and Eric Staudenmaier

This article originally appeared in HD’s  August 2020 issue.