Work
Podgorica Knowledge Commons
The Central University Library in Podgorica is conceived as an architectural extension of Montenegro’s landscape, an institution deeply rooted in the region’s material and geological context. In dialogue with the mountains that cradle Podgorica, the library rises like a new ridge within the city, its limestone façade folding into an undulating roofscape that mirrors and communicates with the contours of the surrounding terrain. This material and geological conversation grounds the building within the deep time of the region, transforming local stone into a contemporary architectural language that embodies both endurance and renewal.
Clad in Montenegrin limestone quarried from nearby sites such as Maljat and Komani, the façade conveys the permanence of the earth while functioning as a high-performance environmental skin. Its vertical stone louvers filter sunlight, regulate temperature, and soften the Mediterranean-continental glare, turning geology itself into a living climatic instrument.
Inside, the library unfolds as a landscape of knowledge, a spatial terrain where reading rooms and terraces spiral around a light-filled atrium, evoking the stratified cuts of a canyon. Public spaces such as the café, gallery, and auditorium flow outward into plazas and parks, extending the life of the library into the city’s ecological network.
Through stone, light, and terrain, the Library emerges as a geological and cultural continuum, an architecture where knowledge and landscape are inseparable, enduring, porous, and alive.
Location: Podgorica, Montenegro
Status: Plan completed in 2025
In collaboration with Jaehun Woo
Podgorica Knowledge Commons
The Central University Library in Podgorica is conceived as an architectural extension of Montenegro’s landscape, an institution deeply rooted in the region’s material and geological context. In dialogue with the mountains that cradle Podgorica, the library rises like a new ridge within the city, its limestone façade folding into an undulating roofscape that mirrors and communicates with the contours of the surrounding terrain. This material and geological conversation grounds the building within the deep time of the region, transforming local stone into a contemporary architectural language that embodies both endurance and renewal.
Clad in Montenegrin limestone quarried from nearby sites such as Maljat and Komani, the façade conveys the permanence of the earth while functioning as a high-performance environmental skin. Its vertical stone louvers filter sunlight, regulate temperature, and soften the Mediterranean-continental glare, turning geology itself into a living climatic instrument.
Inside, the library unfolds as a landscape of knowledge, a spatial terrain where reading rooms and terraces spiral around a light-filled atrium, evoking the stratified cuts of a canyon. Public spaces such as the café, gallery, and auditorium flow outward into plazas and parks, extending the life of the library into the city’s ecological network.
Through stone, light, and terrain, the Library emerges as a geological and cultural continuum, an architecture where knowledge and landscape are inseparable, enduring, porous, and alive.
Location: Podgorica, Montenegro
Status: Plan completed in 2025
In collaboration with Jaehun Woo