The Central Library stands on a periphery site of the University Campus, occupying a narrow parcel near the parking area of the institution, next to the city limits of Ponta Delgada. Following the competition brief, the project had to maintain a small existing building.

The library’s functional organization takes over the existing building, which is overlapped by an assemblage of different open spaces, that are divided within themselves by different levels. Joining those plateauxs at diverse highs, a system of ramps crosses through all the central space, connecting therefore the campus and the city from the inside, inviting users to pass by each of the reading rooms, in-between shelves filled by books.

In this public circulation circuit, an enormous skylight that accompanies the ramp structure gives the ambient luminance.

One other functional circulation circuit, only to be used by the library’s staff, crosses the same spaces in another route, linking it to book storage areas and bibliographic deposits. The three main Reading Rooms are in between those two functional circuits; and each of the rooms is the formal result of those circuit’s correlations.

Each reading room assumes its own character, according to its specific contents and functions, sharing visual and formal relations with others. The sunlight exposure variation throughout the day contributes to the distinction of the library’s internal spaces, adapting them to their distinct functions.plastered masonry in concrete blocks; white joinery.