José Vasconcelos Library of Mexico
By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

In support of president Vicente Fox’s ambitious national literacy program, the Mexican government sponsored a design competition in 2003 for a new library in Mexico City that would serve as the literal and symbolic headquarters for the endeavor. The proposed design by Eric Owen Moss, which was the runner-up, incorporated features like prefabricated components and daylit “sun courts” that place it a cut above many of the entries. Aligned along a proposed new street extending the city’s grid, the building Moss envisioned would have had a hybrid structural system, in which the stacks for book storage were supported by a column grid and wrapped three reading rooms supported on wide-flange columns. A series of four sun courts carved from the building’s mass were shaped and oriented so that each one receives maximum sunlight during one season of the year; their walls act both in shear and in bearing. The grids of the glazed roofs over the reading areas act as diaphragms, carrying their weight to the surrounding frame. Soil excavated from the site would have been used to create an outdoor amphitheater for live performances and film screenings. Comprising a transit hub, galleries, exhibition space, and teaching facilities, the library would not have been just a place to read, but a community for readers.

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1. A tail-like organic volume near the subway station would serve as a ceremonial entry and gallery space. 2, 4. The four canyons correspond to the sun’s position during each of the seasons. 3. Glazed roofs over the reading areas are diaphragms, supported by the larger structural frame. 5. For seismic protection, each of the three main blocks of the proposed library was to rest separately on a mat foundation so they could move independently of one another. Images: Courtesy Eric Owen Moss Architects

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