With the digitization of books, students are using university libraries differently: they become meeting spaces for groups to work together. The consultation of the works thus takes a back seat. These were the specifications given to architects Auer Weber when they won the bid for the rehabilitation and transformation of an existing building at the University of Lille, Department of Science and Technology, into a learning center.

Auer Weber’s project retained the building that houses the current library. Its concrete facade, which seems to be wrapped in a mesh, was extended to accommodate a space for events, a cafeteria and an “experimentarium.”

In dialogue with the architects, we decided to treat the signage in a red monochrome color used in several places within the building: furniture, wall sections, and carpets. The pictograms and floor numbers were encapsulated in circles, and the different levels marked by excessive numbers in painted medium, visible from the large central staircase.