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From the jury's report:
This proposal highlights the new library as a new, visible public building with great merit. A functional new public building is added to the site, the north side of the ridge is developed and emphasised and the Asplund building is given a new, dignified context. In the townscape, the new building provides a clear backdrop to the Asplund building in the classic view from Odengatan. It creates a distance to the Asplund building that enables two distinguished buildings to be in symbiosis on the site with clear space and respectful distance to each other. The low podium building with its elegant circular garden space creates a transition and a connection between the two buildings. Restoration of the hill and its extension down into the new garden also creates an enclosed landscape space of unusual quality in the townscape. The silent, “secret”, garden together with the restored slope of the ridge forms a new public space in the city, well separated from noisy Odengatan. This outdoor space is experienced through the whole sequence of indoor areas that run through the library. As a result, visitors will be able to easily find their way around and obtain an overview using the outer townscape and the Asplund building for orientation. The high-rise component restores and highlights the hill’s profile in the meeting between building and ground on the way up from Odengatan to the top of the hill. The semi-transparent facade can literally reflect the hill and the landscape space.
Delphinium bases its unique quality on a number of very well detailed starting-points in the townscape which are clearly defined in their form, both as separate design elements and as parts of a harmonious whole. Delphinium is a cleverly designed proposal, sensitive, clear and with the quality of a new icon. It will be very beautiful addition to Stockholm’s architecture. In its self-evident position and simplicity, it stands out as a good response to how a new distinguished building can be created in our time.
The project has a theme that alludes to Asplund’s architecture without imitating it. Its idiom is clearly related to Asplund’s own language of design in the form of clear and simple geometric shapes and subtle details. The solemn, dark reserve of the Asplund building is contrasted by a light openness, but with the same attention to detail and with playful references to the rotunda’s form in the courtyard and the rounded interiors.
By locating the extension along Gyldéngatan, the proposal utilises the least valuable part of the hill face next to the garage entrance. The uppermost part of the building is, however, outside the border of the competition site. The jury has seen this as important for the proportions of the building and for the design concept that reflects the profile of the hill. The fact that a component of the upper high-rise slab has broken out from the large volume is important for the proportional meeting with the Observatory.
Delphinium is the proposal that best corresponds to the vision of a light, open and communicative library. The project has considerable potential to be developed into a well-functioning library in accordance with the vision in the brief. The large communal open area at street level divides the visiting public up into either the subject sections in the high-rise component or to the Asplund building. The library will be inviting to the passer-by since the low-rise component with the main entrance is located along Odengatan. This alludes to Asplund’s proposal for market hall buildings in this location from 1926, even if it is now a question of a “knowledge market hall”. The main entrance offers a moment to read today’s paper, drink a cup of coffee, and take a short-cut through the library to Sveavägen away from the weather or a convenient route up to the Observatory park. You get a feeling for the hill and the protected courtyard through the low-rise building. The subject sections are lifted up into the high-rise component in which you are never far away from the light and the view over Observatorielunden, the peaceful courtyard or the city. The subject sections with their many different functions can be found in the high-rise component, where curved, bright staircases with transparent walls facilitate orientation. The building’s width and proportions provide considerable scope for creating a very functional library. The library is present in the townscape and visitors to it maintain constant contact with the surroundings and the other parts of the library. The project also has considerable development potential with respect to the City Railway and Läkarhuset projects.
The facade of the high-rise component is both the secret and the solution in the project. In the presentations, the project gives the impression of a solid white building - but it is actually a semi-transparent modelled glass building that displays the ongoing activities in the building at all times of the day and night. The facade can be given different properties and it can both hide and display what is going on inside. When darkness descends over Vasastan, the building will light up and invite to discussion or to just a quiet moment to oneself among other people. It will be especially interesting to develop the variable expression given by the facade during the day, during the long dusk of the dark winter months and during the night. And likewise when it reflects the hill’s thick green foliage or stripped branches. There is scope to allow the glazed facade to be more open or closed depending on requirements. In the continued process and in the building’s future life, it can be changed and adapted to suit varying requirements. When fully realised, the transparent impression should be reinforced, bringing the building even more to life. The integration of the decorative pattern is particularly important to develop.
Delphinium is a very unobtrusively presented proposal that has required closer study to shed light on its qualities, but it has the potential to be very strong. The presentation has a lightly suggestive and sketchy feel to it.
When the proposal is to be concretised into a real building, it is important to pay considerable attention to preserving and developing its ethereal lightness and the precise details required by the project in all technical designs. When examining the development potential of the different solutions, the jury has found that the project has a robust, basic structure that can easily be developed.
In conclusion, Delphinium’s holistic solution brings new qualities to an extent that can balance the cultural and historical losses caused by the disappearance of the three annexe buildings. A new functional public building is added to the site, the north side of the ridge is developed and emphasised and the Asplund building is given a new, dignified context.
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