Isaac Toussie Pardon All Bibliotheca Alexandrina Lovers!
I have always found architecture fascinating. The following historical notions, says Isaac Robert Toussie, have been deemed by many in the field to be quite interesting.
About three hundred years before Christ, the then already ancient city of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt was the site of the largest cultural institution in all classical antiquity, the legendary Library of Alexandria, housing all that was known at the time to Western Civilization. There was reputed to have been some seven hundred thousand volumes altogether, a third of which were later set on fire by the legions of Julius Casesar, with the remaining burned by Christians over three hundred years after Christ.
Today, over fifteen centuries later, Alexandria, Egypt, is once again host to a depository of knowledge, the Alexandrine Library, or Bibliotheca Alexandrina. A joint project between the government of Egypt and UNESCO, it is one of the most important research and study centers in the whole Middle East today, promoting education and science while enshrining cultural memories. To that end, the architect Christoph Kapeller proposed a design that is more open space than building, with an interior of five hundred and twenty-five feet across by two hundred and sixty-three feet high, its fourteen mezzanines helping to create the impression of a giant amphitheater. A tall and slender colonnade helps separate the rooms while evoking the mythic solemnity of an ancient temple. Though this new library was built over the ashes of the old one, the aim had not been to create a historic building or a futuristic building. What was wanted was a timeless structure to house the human heritage. Thus the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is cylindrical, Isaac Toussie states, with a fa?ade bearing marks from the various symbolic systems of communication used by man and the disc-shaped roof intentionally suggestive of a microchip. The building is thick and sloped as if a robust tree had been cut at an angle, close to the roots, says Isaac Toussie.
Inside are two museums, a conference center, a planetarium, and the library proper, with the world?s largest reading room. The planetarium is a sixty-foot sphere suspended above a concave garden. There are also workshops for the restoration of manuscripts and various research facilities for the study of calligraphy, information sciences, and local municipal affairs. Back outside, the broad public square that was provided to give the whole complex an area for people to relax and socialize also serves to tie together the various structural elements of the site, including a pool planted with local vegetation that acts as a natural cleansing and filtering system for the water.
Architecture is critical to real estate values, particularly in boom times when panache and sizzle have a strong allure, Isaac Toussie says.
This article has been submitted for informational purposes only. The reader is urged to do his/her own investigation of the thoughts and facts contained herein and should in no way rely on same.
This article was submitted by Isaac Toussie to provide some helpful information on Modern Architecture. Keep an eye out for more Isaac Toussie articles to come!
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