经过为期三年的翻新工作（由 Mecanoo 与 OTJ Architects 共同带领），位于华盛顿的马丁·路德·金纪念图书馆（MLKL）现已重新向公众开放。这座于 1972 年首次运营的图书馆在今天重生为一个符合当代需求的终身学习的场所，并对所有的社区开放。MLKL 是二十世纪建筑大师密斯·凡德罗设计的唯一一座图书馆，后来又以 1968 年遭遇暗杀的民权运动领袖马丁·路德·金的名字命名。

After a three-year transformation by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, working in collaboration with OTJ Architects, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKL) has re-opened in Washington D.C.. The library, which opened in 1972, is reborn as a contemporary lifelong-learning hub which reaches out to all communities. It was the only library designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the twentieth century’s greatest architects, and was subsequently named after Dr. King, the towering civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968.

▼图书馆外观，Exterior view ©Trent Bell

致敬密斯和金

Honoring the Legacies of Mies and King

MLKL 的翻新项目从各个层面上创造了新的人文环境，其设计和规划均以未来的使用为依据，增加的设施包括公共屋顶花园、剧场、多座标志性的楼梯和一系列社区工作室及工作坊等。新设计的一个核心目标是“彰显图书馆的社会聚集功能以及它作为城市社交地标的强大身份感”。设计方法在密斯·凡德罗和马丁·路德·金博士留下的截然不同的遗产之间取得了平衡。

The transformation of MLKL brings a new, humanistic environment at all levels, designed and programmed for the future, and it adds facilities including a public roof garden, a theater, signature staircases and a suite of community studios and workshops. A central objective of the new design, as Houben explains, is “to highlight the library’s social gathering purpose and its strong presence as a social landmark in the city”. The design approach balances the very different legacies of Mies van der Rohe and Dr King.

▼街道视角，View from the street© Mecanoo

39600 平方米的复兴项目尊重了原始建筑充满力量感的简洁性——它展现了密斯·凡德罗用直线型黑色玻璃和钢材塑造的独特美学典范——这一点也反映于他在纽约和芝加哥的几座著名的摩天大楼的设计当中。图书馆拥有一个方正的体量，其中三个楼层以玻璃围合，看上去仿佛漂浮在由黑色钢柱构成的底层柱廊之上。

The 39,600 m2 (426,000 sq ft) rejuvenation project respects the powerful simplicity of the original building. It is an example of Mies van der Rohe’s distinctive rectilinear black glass-and-steel aesthetic, which characterizes his iconic skyscrapers in New York and Chicago. The MLKL’s rectangular form has three glazed floors which float above a first (ground) floor recessed behind a colonnade of black steel columns.

▼图书馆的其中三个楼层以玻璃围合，The MLKL’s rectangular form has three glazed floors©Trent Bell

▼黑色钢柱构成的底层柱廊，The colonnade of black steel columns© Robert Benson