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Architecture
A focal point for the urban community
The architect for the new library building was selected through an international
ideas competition organised by the Association pour la Bibliothèque de France,
in close collaboration with the International Union of Architects. In July 1989,
the international jury chaired by I. M. Pei selected four projects, particularly
commending the one submitted by Dominique Perrault. This was the president's
final choice, announced on the 21st. August 1989. Dominique Perrault's design
for the building is based on a hollow rectangular podium block supporting a
tower in the shape of an open book at each corner. The four glass-sheathed 79-metre
high towers accommodate seven office levels shielded by movable wooden screens,
and eleven storage levels protected by matching screens of insulating material.
The belvedere in the north-east tower is open to the public. The podium area
forms a single esplanade with wide stairs giving access from the Seine embankment.
To reach the library entrances, readers cross the wood-floored esplanade, which
serves both as a public square and a terrace. 
The
library itself is first observed through the tree-tops emerging from a garden
covering some two acres in the central hollow of the podium area. The reading
rooms occupy two levels around the garden, with workshops and stockrooms encircling
them on the outer side.
The stockrooms provide 395 linear kilometres of shelving altogether and are located partly within the podium block, next to the reading rooms, and partly in the upper storeys of the tower blocks. Service areas encircle both stockrooms and reading rooms at each level. The two library entrances are reached by two symmetrical, gently sloping walkways along the shorter sides of the garden on the east and west sides of the building. Besides the reading rooms, an auditorium, a lecture hall, six lecture rooms seating fifty people each and two exhibition areas will provide year-round facilities for cultural events. Finally, the library provides various ancillary services including restaurants, cafeterias, a gift and book shop.
Walkways along the garden
D. Perrault arch. / BnF
The BnF and the Bercy bridge
D. Perrault arch. / BnF
Around the François-Mitterrand library, the distinctive streets and public areas of a whole new urban community, Paris Rive Gauche, are gradually taking shape. With the library at its hub, the new community is forging a strong cultural identity which will be strengthened in the future as plans go ahead for a new 80 000 - 130000 m2 university centre. A compactly designed international business centre will be bringing a new economic dimension to the neighbourhood. Green areas, a post office, school, crèche, medical centre and local shops are all being provided so that residents can enjoy all the amenities of a thriving local community. A new express Metro link to the centre of Paris, the line 14, has been in operation since the summer of 1998.
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