The new media library located in Ghent’s historic center presents a stack of horizontal slabs in what is a highly flexible volume.

A series of external metal louvers set before the facade of the media library serves to protect the building against sunlight, accentuate its horizontal character, and give it a look of weightlessness.

The ground floor is actually two levels: that of the canals and that of the footbridges crossing them. The program basically unfolds in the intermediate stories, which include the East Flanders Heritage Library, the regional library, the central catalog of all the libraries of the province, and a space for new media. The offices are on the fifth floor, crowning the building. 

On the facade, horizontal metal louvers protect the building from sunlight. The urban scale of the work and the variety of its public spaces contribute to the revitalization of the neighborhood: the main plaza features an amphitheater and connects with the city by means of a footbridge over the river; a smaller square set at two levels links up with the main one, and a park covers the bend of the river and separates it from the building.