Cottbus University Library

An organic, amoeba-like form, it is not immediately obvious which is the front and which is the rear of the building. Inside, too, the seven upper and two basement levels of the library are all different in design: only their external form stays the same. But it is not only the design of the academic library - with its brightly coloured spiral staircase coiling upwards - which is unique; so too is its organisational form. The Information, Communication and Media Center (ICMC) at Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus creates close proximity between areas which other universities have traditionally kept apart - in both physical and institutional terms. Behind the milky glass façade, imprinted with letters from many alphabets, the library, multimedia centre, computer centre and data processing unit all work hand in hand. (text from the Goethe Institut website)