Thomas Guignard Photography, 1 Presqu Île André Malraux, Strasbourg (2026)

20/02/2026

Médiathèque André-Malraux, Strasbourg, France
📐: Gustave Umbdenstock, 1932
📏: Myrto Vitart and Jean Marc Ibos, 2008 library conversion
🍬: On September 18, 1928, a fire destroyed the wooden warehouses on Port d'Austerlitz, a commercial harbour along the Rhone-Rhine canal in Strasbourg. Architect Gustave Umbdenstock was tasked with the reconstruction of the port facilities. The first building to come up was the warehouse and offices of Armement Seegmuller, a river shipping company established in 1880.
For the Seegmuller warehouse, Umbdenstock departed from the regionalist style he had until then applied to his works, mostly train stations in Eastern France. Entirely made out of fire-resistant concrete, the complex consisted of a low sugar and miscellaneous goods warehouse, grain silos and an office tower. The project was built in collaboration with German engineering firm "Modernbau" in Sarrebruck, and was a sleek expression of interwar modernism.
After the bankruptcy of Armement Seegmuller in 2000, the area became vacant and dilapidated until its transformation into Strasbourg's new central public library. Myrto Vitart and Jean Marc Ibos enclosed the remaining warehouse with a steel and glass volume, combining contemporary elements with original raw concrete elements. This glass library is book-ended on one side by the former silo, forming a dramatic entrance atrium, and a windowless book reserve on the other end. The wall of the reserve can be seen at the back of this image of the rare book reading room.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

18/02/2026

Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
📐: Albert Kahn, 1920
🏺: The first library of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor was completed in 1883. Designed by Ware and Van Brunt architects, it was a brick Neo-Renaissance structure with a large semicircular reading room topped by two square bell towers. It was later extended with with a book stack wing to the south in 1898. The original building was eventually deemed too small and its timber structure too much of a fire hazard. Albert Kahn was tasked with replacing it with a more robust structure. To ensure continuity of service, the 1898 wing was maintained throughout the reconstruction. Built using the patented Snead cast iron book stack system, it was also deemed fireproof and much sturdier than the original construction and has remained in use to this day.
The rest of the library was demolished in stages to make room for Kahn's design. First, two new wings were built perpendicularly to the preserved book stacks, temporarily used as reading and study rooms, as well as for library administration during the rest of the transformation. Replacing the original library and its rounded apse, a new reinforced concrete main volume to the north offered a new facade to the university quad. Marked by large windows separated by pilasters, it is soberly decorated with medallions and a geometric brick frieze.
Inside, the marble-clad main entrance hallway is adorned with painted classical murals attributed to Thomas di Lorenzo. From the hallway, twin marble staircases lead to the service and delivery counters on the second floor and a large vaulted reading room that keen-eyed readers may find earlier on my feed.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF27mm f/2.8

17/02/2026

Campus-Bibliothek Pädagogische Hochschule Thurgau, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
📐: Beat Consoni, 2008
🧃: In 2003, the education of teachers for the canton of Thurgau transitioned from a traditional, seminar-based training to a modular university-level structure. Better integrated within the Swiss higher-education network, Thurgau's teacher college remained however unique in the country in that it combines Matura (highschool) level training with university classes.
This combined model is reflected in the Kreuzlingen campus, where the existing Kantonsschule sits in close connection with the newer higher education facilities and where both institutions share amenities such as a cafeteria and sports grounds. The library is installed on two levels along the eastern facade, lit on one side by a rectangular atrium and on the other by two narrow slits, on the exterior facade and on the roof, bringing a combination of direct and indirect light to the interior.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

16/02/2026

Noranda Earth Sciences Library, University of Toronto
📐: Bregman + Hamann & Diamond Schmitt, 1989
🏈: The Earth Sciences building on the southwest corner of the historic University of Toronto campus is the result of the expansion of the botany, forestry, geography, geology and environmental studies departments in the 1970s. The complex is organized around two axes: the pedestrianized pre-existing Bancroft Avenue in the east-west direction and a covered colonnade running perpendicularly. Near their intersection is an elliptical volume with an auditorium on the ground floor and the library on the two top floors.
The library features a generous reading room surrounded by a wrap-around mezzanine with more workstations. It was originally named after the Noranda mining company, a major sponsor of the new building that has since gone out of business. Nevertheless, the name has stuck and is still unofficially attached to the library.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XC16-50mm f/3.5-5.6

13/02/2026

Töölö library, Helsinki, Finland
📐: Aarne Ervi, 1970
🪬: Designed by one of the major figures of Finnish modernism and a collaborator of Alvar Aalto, this library was built in 1968-1970 to serve the Taka-Töölö district of Helsinki, a neighbourhood established in the early 20th century at a time of rapid population growth.
Like many of his contemporaries, Ervi didn't limit his work to the architecture of the buildings he was tasked with, but also conceived the interior decor and furniture. Aware that the library needed to appeal to all ages, Ervi took care to include playful designs, like a staircase resembling an eye and the benches in the music room shaped like oversized ears.
The library was recently renovated, in a process that combined a respectful restoration of the original Ervi designs with adapting the premises to current needs. More spaces were opened for public use and equipment was modernized. The music section, which was the first in the country when the library opened, is still popular with patrons today and was further expanded.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

13/02/2026

Helsinki Central Library Oodi, Finland
📐: ALA Architects, 2018
🍩: Between the open ground floor and the highly photogenic undulating top floor of Helsinki's new central library "Oodi" is a lesser photographed section with dark walls. This is however where some of Oodi's most groundbreaking features are, a cornucopia of labs, makerspaces, gaming and meeting rooms that buzz with activity. The first version of the library plans even included a fully-fledged sauna, which unfortunately didn't survive past the initial stages. Cutting across it all is this equally black-painted spiral staircase, ferrying the many Helsinkians who since opening day in December 2018 have been flocking to their common living and playing room in droves.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

10/02/2026

Bibliothèque L'Alinéa, Université de Strasbourg, France
📐: Bernard Oziol & Georges Fischer, 1999
👁️: In the wake of the 1968 student protests, French education minister Edgar Faure passed a series of reforms aimed at granting more autonomy to universities and their faculties. In Strasbourg, the "Faure law" led to the university to a 3-part split in 1971: Strasbourg-I, later Université Louis-Pasteur, for sciences and medicine; Strasbourg-II, later Université Marc-Bloch for the humanities; and Strasbourg-III, later Université Robert-Schuman, for social sciences and technology. Until their reunion in 2009, the three universities maintained their own identities but remained in close collaboration, notably in the management of shared campus facilities.
One such facility built in 1998-99 was a joint undergraduate library for humanities and social sciences, poetically named BU U2-U3. Designed by the Bernard Oziol and Georges Fischer, it is a strict combination of void and solid squares, organized in two L-shaped sections arranged around a central stairwell. This internal core, a small square within the square footprint of the building, is entirely walled in glass bricks. Breaking the pattern, the graciously curved stairs connect the four floors of the library.
Renamed L'Alinéa after the reunification of the University of Strasbourg, this is now the law library.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

31/01/2026

Former Toronto Reference Library, now University of Toronto Bookstore
📐: Wickson & Gregg, 1909
📚: The first lending library in Toronto was a subscription library established in 1810 at the Lieutenant Governor residence. The collection was however looted during the War of 1812 and the Burning of York. In 1830, the York Mechanics' Institute started lending books to members. In 1883, Toronto was the first municipality to establish a public library according to the Ontario Free Libraries Act and took over the Mechanics' Institute library.
In 1903, a Carnegie grant enabled the city to build a new central library and three branches. The first branch to be completed in 1907 was the Yorkville branch, the first purpose-built library building in the city and still operating today. Two years later, the new Toronto Central Library opened on College Street.
The Beaux-Arts masterpiece was designed by Toronto architects Frank Wickson and Alfred H. Gregg, in collaboration with Alfred H. Chapman. Wickson, Gregg and Chapman were well acquainted with the task at hand, having designed several other libraries in Ontario, most recently the Brampton Carnegie Library in 1906.
Despite being a beloved and well-used asset in the rapidly growing Toronto Public Library system, the Central Library building was eventually superseded by Raymond Moriyama’s new Reference Library when it opened in 1977. The University of Toronto bought the former library from the city and eventually converted it into the Koffler Student Centre. The mostly preserved original grand reading room is now occupied by the UofT bookstore and is open to the public during academic term.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

31/01/2026

Former Carnegie Library, Preston, ON
📐: W. E. Binning, 1909
🏎️: The history of the public library in Preston dates back to the foundation of the Mechanics' Institute by local magnate Otto Klotz in 1871. A native of Kiel, Germany, Klotz emigrated to Upper Canada in his twenties and settled with the German émigré community in Preston in 1837. From humble beginnings as a farmhand, he grew into a respected businessman thanks to a series of profitable ventures: first a brewery, then a hotel and a handful of stores.
In 1909, Klotz's son Otto Julius petitioned the Carnegie Foundation for funds to establish a public library building and perpetuate the work of the Mechanics' Institute founded by his father. The architect retained by the project was William Edward Binning, who had already built several Carnegie libraries in the region. Modest in size, the brick and stone building nevertheless featured an imposing Neoclassical columned portico crowned by an unusual semicircular pediment. The new library opened in 1910.
The Preston public library remained in this building until 1973, when Preston amalgamated into the municipality of Cambridge. That year, its library, now a branch of the Cambridge public library, moved to its current location on King St. The Carnegie building then served as a meeting place for local clubs and youth groups before being sold to private ownership. Now used as a small office building, it has been well maintained and cared for and achieved heritage classification in 2023.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

30/01/2026

Former Main Library, Hamilton, ON
📐: Alfred W. Peene, 1909-1913
🏦: The first publicly accessible library in Hamilton was the Mechanics' Institute. Opened in 1839, the institution focused on technical and scientific literature. It closed in 1882 due to lacking funds. That same year, however, the Ontario government passed the Free Libraries Act, which established a legal framework for municipalities to run a public library. In 1889, Hamilton became the third town in the province, after Guelph and Toronto, to establish a public library board, but it was the first to erect a dedicated library building in 1890. This first library, designed by William Stewart in Richardsonian Romanesque style, has since been demolished.
The first chief librarian was Richard T. Lancefield, whose only qualifications was his past as an unsuccessful bookstore owner. This failed enterprise eventually revealed a deeper flaw in Lancefield's financial acumen. A decade into his post, he was revealed to have misused library funds to support his gambling addiction and fled to Toronto after destroying financial records.
By the early 20th century, the needs of the growing Hamilton population were no longer met by the original library. In addition to larger reading rooms and book storage space, the old library lacked open shelving: all materials had to be requested from a catalogue.
The Carnegie Foundation initially rejected Hamilton's request for funding, to which the fiscal frivolity of its first chief librarian might not have been unrelated. After some convincing, a grant was finally secured, and a new library could be built. Designed by local architect AW Peene, the Neoclassical library opened in 1913 and remained in function until its replacement by the new Central Library in 1980. It is now a provincial family courthouse.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF27mm f/2.8

27/01/2026

University of Waterloo Musagetes Architecture Library, Cambridge ON, Canada
📐: Unknown, 1919-1938?
📏: Levitt Goodman Architects, 2004 transformation
🐛: The building that houses the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and its library used to be the Riverside Silk Mill. Built alongside the Grand River in the small town of Galt, Ontario (now part of the municipality of Cambridge), the plant stayed in activity until 1975. Following its closure, the building served as a theatre, warehouse and RV sales floor, before returning briefly to the textile industry as a clothing manufacture.
In 2004, the building was taken over by the University of Waterloo after a thoughtful transformation by . Alongside the side windows, long tables are arranged to benefit from natural light. The bookshelves run all the way to the continuous work surface, separating it into individual working nooks.
📷: Canon 5D Mk.II + 24-105mm f/4L

26/01/2026

ETH Baubibliothek, Zürich, Switzerland
📐: Max Ziegler, 1976
🥅: The square building of the architecture library at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich was originally meant to be an auditorium. It was part of the second phase of the Hönggerberg campus, designed by its master planner Max Ziegler.
Ziegler's plan is organized on a grid of 9.6 x 9.6m and conceived as a series of interconnecting blocks, including four large auditorium blocks on stilts to provide open circulation on the ground floor. The largest was however reassigned partway through the project, when the decision was made to move the architecture department to Hönggerberg.
Because of its intended use as an auditorium, the library building has no windows. Instead, the architect recessed the second floor and provided light wells along the periphery, where work tables are located, as well as a central one above the staircase. That way, both floors can benefit from natural lighting.
📷: Fuji X-T20 + XF14mm f/2.8 R

Thomas Guignard Photography

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