Topos

Biblioteca de La Rioja
Concéntrico 03

SHALUMO+MA

One must enter the Central Library of La Rioja, circle around its monumental staircase and step into its crystal gallery in order to glimpse and access its inner patio. Silent, with an open sky above, and surrounded by high walls that protect against the sun, this area tells us the space’s history. The holes, the cut of the façades, and the pavement set the pace for this patio, and invite us to amble, play, rest, chat…

The Topos installation (the title comes from the Greek word for place) fits within this enclosed patio as if it were squeezed between the walls, which created an accident on the terrain. It adapts to the rhythm of the building, reflecting the successive occupation of the space, and recreating everyday scenes through the juxtaposition of modules.

Topos (the root of the word topography) offers to appropriate the ground at different heights for various uses.

Topos is representation in the literary sense of the term: “a single theme found in several works,” offering diverse compositions based on a simple modular system.