A hospital library may not sound like the most likely spot for high design, but the new Educational Centre of the Erasmus University Medical Center, an elaborate series of triangular forms and column-free spaces, turned a once open courtyard into an inspirational retreat. KAAN Architecten's design, which updated previous work by Arie Hagoort and Jean Prouvé, was so well received that it was nominated for a Mies van der Rohe Award, and became the subject of this short film, The Learn'd, which juxtaposes dreamy shots of the interior with glitchy electronica and a narrator intoning Walt Whitman's poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." While the library is the star, with a few edits, the short could easily function as a commercial for a high-end fashion house.
· Architecture Film 'The Learn'd' Takes a Look into Rotterdam's Brightest Library [Yatzer]
· 8 Firms Vie to Renovate the New York Public Library [Curbed NY]