Dome

Library next to older Modernist (1973) building; reflection in the facade; The Free University was founded in 1945; today, with more than 39,000 students, it is the largest of Berlin’s three universities. This redevelopment scheme included the restoration of its Modernist (1973) buildings and the creation of the new library, which holds 700,000 volumes in the humanities. The new library occupies a site created by uniting six of the university's courtyards. Its four floors are contained within a naturally ventilated, bubble-like enclosure, which is clad in aluminum and glazed panels and supported on a tubular steel frame with a radial geometry. A translucent inner membrane filters daylight. It has been nicknamed "the Berlin Brain" for its cranial form. The double skin of the enclosure acts as an air duct and thermal buffer, "breathing" through the opening and closing of different panels. The mass of the concrete structure, itself a passive thermal store, is further heated and cooled by piped water inside the structure. It consumes 35% less energy than a comparable sized building. Source: Foster + Partners [website]; http://www.fosterandpartners.com/ (accessed 7/11/2013)