Library at Loccum Abbey

Individuality through the formulation of the new within the old

The architectural fabric of the more than 850-year-old Cistercian monastery in Loccum is marked by continuous transformation. Additions, ruptures, and historical overlays have produced a palimpsestic structure in which time is not erased but sedimented. The current intervention positions itself within this genealogy—not as contrast, but as a productive continuation of what is already present.

The extension of the monastery library adopts the reduced typology characteristic of Cistercian architecture, referencing the spatial logic and tectonic order of the ideal monastic plan. Rather than aiming for formal assimilation, the transition between existing and new elements is conceived as a morphological dialogue that maintains difference as a legible quality.

The new volume asserts itself as an autonomous component within the monastic ensemble—a contemporary articulation that neither reconstructs nor disrupts. It constitutes an interpretive continuation of the existing fabric, embodying an architectural stance in which continuity is not achieved through mimicry, but through transformation.

PROJECT DATA

Site plan of the abbey with new library building (light red)

The substitute building and romanesque foundation walls of an 13th century auditorium

Concept of reneval

Building ensemble, South

The 14 different building layers of the abbey since the 13th century (detail)

View from the west

Floor plan of the entire abbey complex

View from the south

The glazed gable end allows to view out to the pond and forest landscape of the surroundings

Reading hall in the attic

The skin of natural stone of the existing is being continued 

The reading area of the library stacks are located above the well-maintained foundations of the medieval auditorium

Abbey library and library stacks 

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