The semester break in Berlin is slowly coming to an end and soon it will be time to get back to work: Back to the libraries! Of course, students often simply choose the nearest library to make lugging books around a little easier. However, if you want to master your learning process in an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere, you can pick up a few valuable tips here!
Library with harbor view
The Humboldt Library, designed by American architect Charles Moore, is located in Reinickendorf. Even from the outside, the building impresses with its imposing post-modern architectural style, which is also carried over into the interior, but here is fused with classicist elements. Multi-storey rows of shelves and vaulted ceilings create the impression of a contemporary nave. The glazed west side of the building, on the other hand, offers a particularly varied view of the harbor.
humboldt Library | Karolinenstraße 19, 13507
Book bathroom
The next library awaits us in Wedding, nestled on the banks of the Panke. In a listed building that once served as a bathhouse, you can now browse for books in comfort or finish off that hated chore.
📍Library at Luisenbad | Badstraße 39, 13357
Grim and grimmer
Humboldt-Universität’s Central Library not only attracts angry university students, but also researchers in their own interest. This is because people who do not belong to the university can also borrow books or work undisturbed here. At first glance, the library may look like a rather unspectacular concrete block, but as is so often the case, the gold lies in the inner values. In particular, the library boasts a modern atrium in the center of the complex, which makes the main building pleasantly bright. The central podiums, which run through the building in steps, are also interesting.
📍Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum | Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3, 10117
Gray matter
The next library belongs to Freie Universität and is entirely dedicated to philology, i.e. linguistics and literary studies. Inside and out, the building is reminiscent of a brain, which is partly due to its rounded shape but also to the complex corridors. The metal shell of the “Berlin brain” is also interspersed with glass surfaces that allow the buffalo a view of the sky and thus open up new horizons, and not just in a figurative sense. A filter in the ceiling also ensures a light-flooded working atmosphere that is rarely found in a library!
📍Philological Library of Freie Universität | Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195
Antiquities
Our last entry is also by far one of the most beautiful in all of Berlin – at least if you’re a fan of classicism! With more than 300 years under its belt, the Academy Library is one of the oldest institutions of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and certainly holds the title of the longest-standing name in Berlin. In addition to the most important standard works in all subject areas, there is also a large collection of dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The experience is rounded off by high archways, columns and finely chiseled decorative elements.
📍Central Library of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities | Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin