The splendid Reading Room of the Pontificial Lateran University in Rome.
The splendid Reading Room of the Pontificial Lateran University in Rome. The library is arranged so that for every two floors of book stacks one sloping ramp, "U" shaped in plan, connects them. The book stacks are as low as possible to avoid the use of ladders to reach the highest shelves and, given the thin floor slab, are made look like a set of bookshelves themselves. They are connected vertically by a staircase set between the containing wall and an interior façade of bookshelves facing the reading ramps dedicated to publications, to form in effect a book tower. The slope of the ramps is determined by joining the regularly spaced floors of the book stacks to the irregular cuts in the façade which creates the reality (not simply the effect) of volumes floating in light.
Size: 4256px × 2831px
Location: Rome, Italy
Photo credit: © Andrea Magugliani / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, books, culture, italy, lateranense, library, pontificia, pontificial, reading, romans, rome, room, university, università, youth
