Since the Enlightenment brought public buildings back to the center of architectural activity, the library typology has maintained a prominent role in the worldwide evolution of the discipline, despite the emergence of new buildings seemingly more representative of the post-industrial era. Beginning with Henri Labrouste’s Parisian libraries of the 19th century, through the masterpieces of Erik Gunnar Asplund, Alvar Aalto, Hans Scharoun and Louis Kahn, to contemporary media centers such as Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque, the typology and its recent variations have been a thermometer of the architectural trends of our time.

The Gabriel García Márquez Library, inaugurated in 2022 in Barcelona’s Sant Martí neighborhood, is the most recent expression of this continuing relevance. Designed by SUMA Arquitectura, a team of young professionals led by Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano, the García Márquez library has almost instantly become a critical and public success. This has occurred partly because of the succession of awards it has received since its inauguration: the City of Barcelona Award, the FAD Architecture Award and the most talked-about of all, the 2023 award for the Best Public Library in the World granted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).