Learning Resource Center

TEXT: ROMINA XYDA
PHOTOGRAPHY: MULTIMEDIA ARCHIVES - UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
 

15,700 square meters, 620,000 printed volumes, 190,000 subscriptions to electronic book titles, 950 individual study spaces equipped with state-of-the-art technology, 31 team-study rooms, of four or six person capacity, 24-hour operation, compose some of the elements of a project that breaks the boundaries of knowledge and transcends beyond the borders of Cyprus. The modern ”Stelios Ioannou” Learning Resource Center is probably the most important project that has ever been completed in Cyprus and bears the signature of the internationally renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, personal choice of businessman Dakis Ioannou. One element that certifies that this project is a point of reference not only for the scientific but also for the architectural community in Cyprus: “Every library is a place of knowledge and expression, but it is also a testament to the history of your motherland. I wanted this project to resemble poetry, be a work of art”, said the famous architect, a statement that fully mirrors the outcome. This building, fully integrated to its environment, is located northeast of the University Campus under the form of a new geographic element: an artificial hill, similar to the adjacent, is morphologically integrated to the surrounding landscape and encloses an underground building partially open towards the outside, with its southeast and northwestern face forming part of the slopes of the artificial hill. With a colorful membrane in an abstract composition that overlaps all the slopes of the artificial hill and with an impressive white dome projecting to the plateau as a crown, the architect goes beyond a natural mime of the natural landscape and manages to create a real work of art!

All the functions and services of this modern Library are divided into five levels, combining libraries, reading rooms, workstations, working areas, services for disabled users and a 24-hour reading room, located on the ground floor, open for users 7 days a week and even on national holidays. The building, as a focal point of the campus, is open to any citizen who wants to utilize its versatile and useful services, serving all scientists and researchers, beyond the university community, as the main research library. This unique project cost a total of 33 million euros, including the donation of 8 million euros by the late Ellie Ioannou, in memory of her husband, Stelios Ioannou. And, as the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades had aptly mentioned: “It is a work of art in the academic field, which, as innovative, radical and yet functional, will inspire its visitors to seek knowledge from the past, create new knowledge and impart it to the future...”.