Royal Library Extension

Copenhagen, Denmark

In 1992, the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs launched an international competition to expand the Royal Library on Slotsholmen, Copenhagen’s historic government and cultural district. The design brief called for a visionary extension that could honor the gravity of the institution while reimagining how knowledge, culture, and community could intersect in a modern library.

My proposal was organized around the geometry of the Möbius strip—a continuous, looping surface with no beginning and no end. This form became more than a sculptural gesture; it offered an incredibly efficient spatial framework, allowing programmatic zones to flow seamlessly into one another while creating unexpected adjacencies between departments. Spaces that are typically separated—archives and reading rooms, back-of-house and public interface, scholarship and storytelling—were brought into close, deliberate proximity to encourage new types of intellectual and cultural interaction.

The design was both conceptual and rigorously functional, using the continuous loop to address daylighting, circulation, structure, and site constraints along the Slotsholmen waterfront. Although the project remained unbuilt, it was an early milestone in my architectural journey—a blend of formal exploration, spatial innovation, and cultural ambition.