TU Delft Library

The TU Delft Library is the main library of the Delft University of Technology , located in Delft, Netherlands. It was designed by the Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo and built in 1997. It is the largest technical scientific library in the Netherlands.The library was designed in the early years of Mecanoo, whose founding members, Erick van Egeraat, Henk Döll, Francine Houben, Roelf Steenhuis and Chris de Weijer, were graduates of TU Delft. An example of a building that acts as landscape, the library is partially underground with a 15% sloped plane and a grass-covered green roof on top. Protruding from the artificial hill there is a 40 metres steel cone which acts as a source of daylight and is meant to symbolize technical engineering. Although a successful exterior element, the cone was more unsatisfactory in the interior and received some criticism in architectural reviews. A series of columns distribute heat and light throughout the interior. The green roof system by ZinCo Benelux uses a cellular glass insulation and a 15-centimetre substrate. Together with the green roof and the insulation it provides, a reduced external wall surface improves the building's energy efficiency. The roof is walkable and the students use it to sit and socialize during the summer, or as a sledding hill during the winter.

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