The building as a building

The building as a whole is surprisingly modest. Despite its size, it does not crush the visitor who approaches its main entrance. Once inside, the transition to a larger scale is gradual. The entrance hall is surprisingly austere and still does not give an impression of the grandeur to come.

After crossing the closed doors of the “threshold” to the library proper, one glimpses the open space beyond.

As you move closer to the main hall the soft indirect light and the well-positioned electric lights imbue the scene with a special ambiance. Then, a few steps further takes one onto the viewing balcony, named in honor of Callimachus (the great Hellenistic poet who created the first organized record of the ancient library’s holdings organized by subject and author, thus becoming the father of library science).

There, one is overwhelmed by the great space of the Reading Hall: spectacular, soaring, elegant, out of this world, are some of the expressions that come to mind. Yet after a brief saunter back from the promontory provided by the Callimachus balcony, one descends the stairs to enter the Reading Hall, and one is surprised again that the experience of the space from the ground level is truly different from what you experience from the balcony. This experiential sequence is the mark of truly great architecture. It engages you at both the emotional and intellectual levels. One is constantly engaged by the roof structure, the elegant columns, the books and the exhibits.

You feel that you are literally at the center of an amazing space that engages the reader and visitor alike. Despite the enormous size of the hall, the talent of the architects and the skill of the engineers have combined to make this space attractive, modest and human in scale by splitting the vast Reading Hall into seven levels, each of which has a reading area and a shelving area as well as a reference desk. The cascading effect of this design means that while one glimpses the other levels, you do not have the feeling of being in a large hangar. Each reading space is attractively scaled and fathomable to the human psyche.

The library collections and services are spread over the seven levels of public space. The collection is organized according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system and reference services desks as well as individual study rooms are available on each floor.

The First level (B4) level, is the largest floor space of all levels and is reserved for the reference collection, maps, periodicals and newspapers and monographs. It also has an information desk for the Entrepreneur Corner which is a service offered by the Library for the Alexandria business community. The rest of the monograph collection resides on the floors (B3-F2) and is organized in an ascending order according to the Dewey system.

The Second level (B3) is dedicated to the library collection, users space, and the Library Learning Center which is a computer lab dedicated for teaching information fluency and basic IT skills and also includes a specialized library for the Arts and Multimedia.

The Third level (B2) includes a specialized library for rare books. A few feet away from the Fourth level (B1) where permanent exhibition galleries are located as well as the Manuscript Museum This is also the key level that connects a large part of the complex under the Plaza. It has other exhibition areas, the Antiquities Museum which is accessible by a stair from the main lobby, and the History of Science Museum which is laid out around the Planetarium on the B2 level but is accessible only through the B1 level at the entrance of the Planetarium.

The Fifth level (E) the entrance level from the plaza, includes a number of important points such as circulation, membership, computer reservations, general information in addition to the open book stacks, computer workstations and the Internet Archive.

The Library offers a multitude of services for different types of users. All services are placed strategically to facilitate access to these special users. For example, the Taha Hussein Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired is located on the Entrance level to be easily accessible to blind patrons from the street level . This library was named in honor of the great Egyptian writer, man of letters and educator, whose illustrious career remains an inspiration, and a reminder to all blessed with sight as to what a blind person can achieve.

The Sixth level (Fl) is completely devoted to monographic collections and quiet reading areas. At that level, on the other side of the spine and accessible directly off the stairs through the lobby, are the entrance to the research facilities, and the specialized libraries for the young adults (age 12-16) and for children (age 6-11); and a special room for the international associations of friends of the Library of Alexandria. This is also the location of the secretariat for the Egyptian Friends of the Library.

The Seventh level (F2) is solely devoted to the depository library collections and its services.

Above these seven levels there are two floating seminar rooms attached by bridges to the administration and the main service facilities of the building.

The structural achievements of the building are as impressive as its architecture. A soaring roof that allows natural light and withstands wind, with elegant thin columns that create a true “cathedral of the book” effect, and the world’s largest diaphragm wall, and a building going some 18 meters below sea level. It has rightly been seen as award winning-engineering, not just award-winning architecture.

The materials are modest and robust, the effect pleasing and understated. The furniture is all ergonomically designed, and the entire building and its components fit well together creating an effect where the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

Criticisms of this great building are few. The unfulfilled desiderata that I would list include a missed opportunity to use the roof for a great environmental experiment in solar energy, the need for even more facilities than originally envisaged but which were well incorporated into the design as we progressed. Due to our mounting collection of artworks we will need more exhibition galleries. Finally, coping with the enormous success of the building where the number of visitors is continually increasing. In the first four years since inauguration, some 3,000,000 visitors had come through the building, and the flow is increasing every year. On the whole these are trivial points compared to the enormous achievement represented in this
building. Perhaps the best compliment I can give it is that it is truly worthy of bearing the name of the Great Library of Alexandria.