Municipal Library

Galileo Chini, one of the few artists of the new Liberty movement to have made his name in Florence, is associated in particular with ceramics. He was the inspiration in this library by Florence-based Archea. The project concerns the extension of an existing, c-shaped building which was erected in 1897 as a primary school. When Nembro's city council decided to convert it into a library, a new wing was inserted in the opening in the 'C', forming an open-air court. The new wing is completely different from the old structure. It is a wholly transparent glass volume surrounded by a second façade of 40x40 cm red glazed earthenware tiles held in place by a framework of steel profiles, a construction method that enables the tiles to rotate and so act as a sunscreen for the glazed inner façades. The result is a distinctive 'screen' wall in which closed and open planes alternate in a continuous pattern created by the rotating ceramic elements.