Rethinking Circulation Spaces in Contemporary Libraries: Experiential Stairs and New Paradigms / Ripensare gli spazi di circolazione nelle biblioteche contemporanee: scale esperienziali e nuovi paradigmi

The efforts libraries are developing to conserve their relevance within the ongoing socio-cultural scenarios include the experimentation with architectural solutions that are reconfiguring the form, function and meaning of some components of the institutions' interior scape. In particular, the paper aims to critically explore the revision of circulation and in-between spaces, that in recent projects have grown in complexity, in the light of enhanced spatial programs building on the search for improved flexibility and new interplays between individual and collective dimensions. This trend is especially focused on the rethinking of the stairs, which have always been a signature element of libraries' spaces but are currently assimilating an unprecedented role in producing new opportunities, experiences and paradigms.