BOUNDARIES OF URBANISM
The complex of Paromlin, as a speck of history preserved in the industrial landscape of the city of Zagreb, presents a historically interesting and spatially dynamic structure. Industrial development through time, an increase and a decrease of business activities accompanied by inevitable deterioration, followed by restoration and building of superstructures, resulted in a range of facilities forming significant industrial heritage of urban tissue. Especially so if one studies the stretch north of Vukovarska Street. The old and renovated buildings of the complex, if observed individually, certainly do not represent architectural accomplishments of pronounced quality. Thus, they cannot be evaluated separately, but jointly they form industrial heritage of valuable ambiance. They represent a part of city's history and identity with a potential to be assimilated into contemporary life.
A precise boundary between urbanism and architecture is impossible to determine. Where does a house start and where does a city finish?
The set task can be pondered on along those lines. The call for proposals posed the question above.
The transmission building, the storage, the silo, the mill with two new structures, a reading room and an entrance pavilion, form an urban complex. Their interaction, separation and balance create separate worlds, i. e. spaces providing different experiences. This is a new value, a quality which should be emphasised. Each object functions independently, but at the same time all of them together make a compact functional unit defined by the function of the new library. The location of the new building is in accordance with the project task and requirements stemming from the given planning documentation. The total lot coverage is within the set framework and the distance from the neighbouring plots is within the required dimensions (h/2), except for the lot where the existing object is situated on the border and is thus incorporated in the project.

INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE
Almost all instances of adaptation and furbishing of existing industrial complexes present interesting solutions, always well accepted among users and critics. Robust architectural structures provide various modes of use. The concentration of typologies, designed for heavy loads and specific production programmes create an impressive image.
What makes a new content in an adapted industrial space so appealing, seductive and pleasant?
Divergence and discrepancy.
Industrial buildings are characterised by robustness, a regular construction rhythm with pronounced spans, resistant materials and final finishes. Visible rough concrete beams, damaged steel profiles, scratched floors made of wooden planks, great heights, oversized glass walls with black thin profiles are only some of the elements in space contributing to the overall experience. However, this is not how real architectural concepts and meaningful spatial relations are formed. New contents and their realistic needs are in contrast with the given dimensions, proportions, the construction and the final finishes. The named disproportion and spatial experience moving away from the new needs make the space mysterious and attractive. The discrepancy of architectural and spatial elements with functional demands of a specific content creates unsuitability resulting in unexpectedness. It is the unexpectedness what makes the space so attractive, new and interesting. Only what is comprehendible and important at that moment is the spatial experience, and for users it is the experience of surprise.
How to place a piece of new architecture next to such an existing industrial structure?
Unexpectedly.
Basic supporting structures of the new reading room surpass the existing buildings. It establishes a new proportion which can accommodate all the required contents. The supporting construction creates an unexpected experience of spatial relations. Completely open, free space is alternated with storeys with supporting beams. Elongated spaces mutually connected by openings / wholes of main beams are formed between two supporting structures. Circular openings in storey beams, in addition to providing light, make an important constructive element uniting the space, creating a visual rhythm in one direction, and focus the point of circle in the transverse direction. The cross section is alternating, structural, independent and entirely consistent. The scale is unexpected, and possibilities are various. The new four-storey spatial structure establishes its own rules, independently of the content. The independence of the structure from the future function follows the set rule and forms the architectural concept/idea. The industrial scale as groundwork for modern life. Formal interpretation of the collapsed chimney does not contribute to the quality or clear understanding and thus it is totally unnecessary.

FUNCTIONAL ORGANISATION - INDIVIDUAL SPACES
The urban - architectural complex consists of six separate buildings. The mill, the transmission, the storage, the silo, the new reading room and the entrance pavilion. The functional organisation faithfully follows the set rule on the urban complex and the independence of all the existing and new objects. The new / old mill building is completely free. It hosts the base with a storage room in the basement and the reading room on the ground floor. All the space above is free, completely empty. That multi-storey space contains a large hall.
Throughout the history, the most remarkable objects / buildings consisted of only one room.
The hall is sloping with a height of five storeys with zenithal light and adjustable ceiling shutters / curtains. The main transmission building hosts a small hall in a two-storey space of the first and the second floor. The library management is situated in the remaining part of the building. All other workspaces, an internal reading room and collections are located in the existing storage room. The supporting structure of the silo is kept in its entirety and all the book storages are placed there, forming a books silo. In the new central structure, an open educational facility, next to the entrance hall on the ground floor, all other main sections including collections and the reading room for adults, children and the young with a media library are designed. The entrance pavilion is solid, primarily open, unexpected. The inner supporting steel structure supports the roof and the lateral walls which do not touch the floor, reminding of a mantle. The space is filled with a steel construction, high, enclosed by a rooftop, and on the sides. The light comes from the floor zone. There are six entrances, two per each longitudinal side and one per each lateral side. The pavilion is regular, rectangular and represents a counterpoint to the large hall with an open / glass roof. The new open glass self-sufficient structure of the main space of the library, the educational facility, is located between the great hall of the mill and the mantle of the entrance pavilion. Individual spaces.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION
Original industrial types of buildings are still visible and their identity is kept. The prevailing material of the existing building of Paromlin and the surrounding facilities is brick. Aimed at preserving and accentuating the present ambience, the brick walls are kept visible wherever possible regardless of the need of structural reconstitution of the existing building. In addition to bricks and concrete, the most dominant material for floor coverings is wood. All the existing structures have wooden floorboards. The new building has a visible concrete construction of deep girders with dimensions of the height of one storey. The inserted parts of the new construction at storeys between concrete supporting structures are also wooden. The outer and inner facade is made of glass, without emphasised partitioning. All the existing brick walls will be reinforced from the inside with additional reinforced concrete walls.