Information centre Parrotia + the library Van Nu
Colourful treasure trove for Roosendaal
Roosendaal's library was recently modernised and expanded into a multifunctional centre, which also includes a theatre, a café, various shops and offices. A stately mansion now houses the monumental reading room and the highly imaginative youth library.
The library is housed in two buildings: the monumental Emile van Loon house was commissioned by landowner P. van Weel in 1875. Against the right facade, the existing driveway was built over in 1892, commissioned by E. van Loon and designed by M. Vergouwen. In 1929, the Emile van Loonhuis was rebuilt to designs by Joseph and Pierre and Cuypers and a 1980 building by Sturm architects, which contains flats in addition to the library. The Emile van Loonhuis is named after its occupant, a Roosendaal alderman. After the last Van Loon left the house, it was the town hall for a while and then used as a library office. The garden of the Emile van Loon house, designed by the garden architect Heerma van Voss in 1883, became a city park in 1936, purchased by the residents of Roosendaal. In that park - the Emile van Loonpark - there is a large Parrotia and the library - or rather the information centre - is named after this tree. Apart from the library, the building houses or will house several other institutions, including a theatre, and various other (semi-)commercial institutions and foundations. Another bookshop will be located in the space on the Market Square, which will turn into a catering facility on the square in the information centre.
‘A bit American - hospitality and retail in strategic locations with the library as the crowd puller,’ Hans Maréchal argues.
The Emile van Loon park played another role in the library's design. Maréchal: "The park was a kind of no man's land, a place of loitering and drug nuisance, turned away from the city, even though it is one of the most beautiful places in Roosendaal. We thought the park should be given a central role again; that is why we proposed making the new main entrance of the library to that park. But before that, it had to be upgraded and better maintained." Thus, at M+R's initiative, the park was also tackled. The passage under the apartment complex where the library entrance used to be located was opened up more, so there is now a much more accessible connection between market and park. Against the right wall of this passage, a wall with foliage motifs was installed and on the left side maximum glass facades were placed, making the passage more attractive and transparent and preventing vandalism.
Onion tower
The new entrance leads directly to the heart of Parrotia, the information plaza. At this courtyard is the entrance to the various agencies located in the centre. The grey tiles were replaced by anthracite-coloured Italian tiles, with red seating elements by Quinze & Milan on top. Otherwise, the square is largely empty, except for the library's small reception desk and some internet tables. The original roof structure above the square was retained, but the yellow was replaced with aluminium-coloured paint, so that the structure is less accentuated. The lamps - still contemporary - remained. A small intervention with great effect was the replacement of the wire glass in the roof, so that the beautiful onion turret at the back of the Emile van Loon house - completely hidden from view by the 1980 complex - can again be seen from the square.
The actual library is mainly on the first floor. The existing staircase there - ‘A strange, awkward staircase that someone tripped off every day’ according to Maréchal - was replaced by a luxuriously wide, slightly twisted staircase and an additional spiral staircase. Down on the square, though, is the library's reading room, the only space the library uses on the ground floor of the Emile van Loon House. For this, two windows in the house had to be turned into doors and part of the parapet removed, something that caused a huge battle with Monumentenzorg. Maréchal: "It would supposedly disturb the experience of this former council chamber. However, the use of the room was crucial to our design. Moreover, many Roosendaalers got married there, which is another reason why we wanted it to regain a public function. Many people have pleasant memories of the room and they can now use it again, whereas before no one could see it. I think the National Department of Monuments could be a bit more generous, they put monuments under a bell jar too often now. In Italy, they tackle reuse of monuments much better. We won in the end, but it took a lot of time and letters." The choice of colour for the rear façade, by the way, does not meet with Maréchal's approval either: "A big failure.
The service has used its position to push certain things through, but I think this colour does the rear façade far more injustice than the new doors, for example." He does think the ochre yellow of the front façade on the Market is well chosen.
The reading room still has the original monumental murals in classicitic style, depicting the works of mercy, by a (still) unknown, probably Flemish artist. To protect the paintings, glass panels were placed in front of them up to a height of about two metres, and there is a special climate control system. The floor is still the original parquet floor; against the walls are magazine cabinets with integrated lighting. At the information plaza is also the new theatre that was built on M+R's initiative. For this purpose, an intermediate floor was removed in part of the building (which previously housed a play library), so that the theatre now occupies two floors, separated from the square by a large glass wall. The theatre has a “box-in-box construction”, so that local residents do not experience noise pollution. For the acoustics, the firm Dorsserblesgraaf, which was also involved in such projects as Casa da Musica in Porto and the CCTV building in Beijing, both designed by OMA, was brought in. The compact theatre seats 70 to 80 people and can be used for (non-commercial) performances or municipal receptions, among other things, but can also be rented.
Around
The adult library is on the first floor of the 1980 building. This room - previously a gloomy forest of grey columns under a grey ceiling - was completely revitalised. The columns were painted in different vibrant colours, breaking up the monotony and adding depth to the space. The existing bookcases were reused, but “friendlised”: they were given a surround with rounded edges and in the sides circular “display cases” with LED lights in which books can be placed; uplights were fitted at the top, reflecting the light against the white-painted ceiling. Floor lighting is fitted at the bottom of the cabinets for orientation. The original brick walls were retained but also painted white. In front of the windows are armchairs by Artifort, which are also clearly visible from the park, underlining the inviting character of the library. The floor resembles black-and-white granite but is made of rubber granulate, which includes recycled car tyres; the material (by Neoflex) is highly wear-resistant and has excellent acoustic properties. In the floor, there are round “islands” in distinct colours here and there, on which a large round bookcase (containing the book intake) and the round central information desk,
In the floor, there are round “islands” in distinct colours here and there, which include a large round bookcase (containing the book intake) and the round central information desk. Maréchal: ‘It's kind of our trademark to put round, organic shapes in square spaces.’ In the part with offices and meeting rooms on the first floor, there is another round service block including a pantry, in which really everything is bright orange.
Treasure
On M+R's initiative, the youth library was also housed in the Emile van Loonhuis. The basis for the design was the report of a number of workshops by Anneke Wijn of Creative Consultancy, in which a group of children between the ages of six and 12 sought answers to the question of what the ideal children's library should look like, based on the phrase “Treasure is what's in your head”. The outcome was the concept “All treasure rich” and Treasure rich also became the name of the youth library. In it, a number of rooms were created, each with its own theme: Warmth + Safety, Atelier, Knowledge + Science, Mystery + Imagination. Tantalising, Room of Grief and the Meeting Room. Because children will also go to the library less to borrow books in the future, Treasure Kingdom had to become at least an “experience library”. The experience already starts at the footbridge connecting the Youth Library with the rest of the first floor: a long steel bridge across the is square, with round transparent plastic railings, which will remind small children in particular of an exciting tunnel.
The youth library's first room is the former bathroom of the Emile van Loon House. During renovation, a beautiful Art Déco bathroom with a marble bathtub sunk into the floor was discovered here, which was restored and covered with a glass plate. The rooms are all interconnected and through the doorways you always have surprising and colourful vistas into the other rooms. Together, they form a fairytale-like and warm house where children clearly play the leading role.
The connection between the rooms is also represented on the floor, through the “aorta”, a winding path with branches. The aorta is always orange; the rest of the floor is a different colour in each room. The floor lies on loose plywood boards, which leave the parquet underneath intact and also provide sound insulation in the house with its thin ceilings. From the ceilings hang M+R-designed fixtures in different sizes, with many small LED lights. A few rooms contain furniture from Italy with didactic qualities (Reggio Emilia)Dark blue curtains always hang in front of the windows, but each room has its own colourful wallpaper, with, for example, circles, stripes or sunflowers, or stars and planets in the Knowledge + Science room. Finally, endearing is the Room of Grief, where there are books that are almost never borrowed. For some compassionate children, this gives even these books something interesting, so that they are read again from time to time anyway.
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