Biblioteca Esquerra de l’Eixample-Agustí Centelles

On 9 May 2011 it opened as a local arts centre for the people of the Antigua Esquerra de l’Eixample neighbourhood and part of the Nova Esquerra de l’Eixample.

The library is in the Centre Cultural Teresa Pàmies, a new building designed by architects Víctor Rahola and Jorge Vidal, which groups together different services for the citizens: Urgell Civic Centre, in the basement, the El Roure nursery school on the first floor, the children’s playground on the second floor, and the library, which occupies the third to the seventh floor. Besides that, the centre has an assembly hall and an exhibitions hall on the ground floor. In the building a block interior named Jardins d’Ermessenda de Carcassona has been recovered.

Covering an area of 3,200 m2, the library comprises four floors that are grouped together in two pairs, each with a notable singularity. The four floors are connected by stairs and open balconies, one on top of another. These balconies let the light through to the centre of the floor. An elongated skylight at the top of the building naturally illuminates the central part of the library, farther away from the windows.

The library specializes in photography and has a large collection of documents on this subject, which you will find on the fifth floor.