How can the national library best accommodate the collection and curation of
knowledge to encourage learning in an age of digitalisation?
During the graduation studio Complex Projects the role of the national library in
Germany was put under investigation. The national library functions as a central place where all published work of the nation is collected. How does the library position themselves to stay relevant for information that can be curated for it to be easily accessible. The use of the building will need to be revised to continue serving its users and engage a new generation and audience. Currently the collection is stored in multiple cities in Germany, which defeats the goal of the national library to centralise the collection. As the collection continued to grow it resulted in buildings with multiple extensions and not optimal storage conditions. The design of the national library emphasises the representation of all media such as books as well as online publications, providing a welcoming space for the public, organising events and encouraging learning.

In this thesis the modern office typology will be the main object of this research. Giving an answer to the question: how did the open floor plan in offices emerge in the twentieth century? The buildings Johnson Wax Headquarters (1939) by Frank Lloyd Wright and Centraal Beheer Apeldoorn (1972) by Herman Hertzberger will be analysed to illustrate the principles and ideas of the before-mentioned architects. How these projects influenced office architecture and how the workspace has changed in the period from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. The analysis of buildings will show how the ideas of the architects are visible in the design, relating to the historical and theoretical framework of that time. This research can be useful in understanding the means and functioning of open office spaces and could help with designing future offices.