University Library Freiburg: Extraordinary Furniture for an Impressive Building

The environment of the newly built university library Freiburg reflects in a multi-faceted fashion in the façade out of glass, which seems like a polished diamond. Just opened in July, the light and open atmosphere of the spectacular new building offers an optimum learning and working environment. The brown seat and back elements of the modular lounge system banc provide pleasant accents in the rather reduced colour scheme. Brunner developed this modular lounge programme, together with the Stuttgart based design studio jehs+laub, especially for this library. The basic element of banc: a stable, U-shaped extruded aluminium profile. Seat cushions or seat elements with backs in three different heights are securely screwed to this basic element. The shapes and colours of the seat elements can be individually combined and exchanged in just a few steps at any time. This enables the fast and uncomplicated exchange of individual elements. This was a very important criterion for the awarding authority. The high U-profiles of the frame facilitate a fast and uncomplicated cleaning of the floor under the seat groups.

banc is combined with filigree side tables and stools from the hoc series in the library of the university Freiburg. The stacking chair prime is deployed in the reading room and in the conference rooms you can find cantilever chairs from the vast product series fina. The responsible Basel architect Heinrich Degelo declared himself satisfied that: “The clear formal language of the Brunner furniture underlines the functional architecture of the library perfectly”.