Radolfzell City Library

The main library for the city of "Radolfzell am Bodensee" celebrated its grand reopening in January 2015.

The library, located in the so-called “Austrian Chateau” in the historical city center, began extensive renovations at the end of 2014 under the direction of the architect Mathias Eck. One major challenge during renovations was adhering to the regulations that stated the historical values and looks of the 400-year-old registered monument were to be preserved. The ground floor, which is already occupied, and the two upper floors have been carefully restored and the old stucco ceilings were reconstructed and painted according to historical documentation. In the attic, with its old wooden beams, bright rooms, comfortable corners, bay windows with a wonderful view and a newly installed reading bar were only partially rebuilt and are now part of the library.

Planning for the lighting system was undertaken by Michael Djebbar. To illuminate the bookshelves he decided on using a linear profile light, knowing from past experiences that there are always surprises when renovating existing buildings he therefor searched for a manufacturer with the necessary flexibility to address specific requirements and any problems that might crop up. With this in mind he chose the Austrian lighting manufacturer “planlicht” as the lighting supplier. From the wide range of lighting products that planlicht offered he chose the “p.dindi” LED linear profile light. The p.dindi was originally designed as a wall mount using a bracket however it turned out that the old masonry was not up to the task of supporting the light once the necessary holes and cuts were made in the wall for the brackets and electrical wiring. In cooperation with the planlicht design team a special attachment was developed, this attachment mounted the profile directly to the bookshelves while the electrical wiring was routed through the bookshelves themselves. For the upper floors a pendulum mounting was chosen in which the profiles were suspended by short, narrow steel straps.

A total of 64 high output, dimmable, 3000k p.dindi linear profiles of various lengths were installed. These profiles use LEDs and a main housing constructed out of extruded aluminum, due to their simple design and direct/indirect lighting this combination fits perfectly in the historical rooms and with the old building structure. Additionally the p.dindi profiles could be labeled to denote specific categories or sections below them.

Große Kreisstadt Radolfzell am Bodensee, D-78315 Radolfzell

Architekt: Matthias Eck, Radolfzell
Lichtplanung: Michael Djebbar, Radolfzell