Luxembourg Learning Centre (LLC)

The LLC: a gateway to discovery

The Luxembourg Learning Centre (LLC) is an open and innovative space intended to inspire its users to reach their goals. The exceptional architecture and the high quality furniture offer an attractive framework that makes the LLC an enjoyable place to work and live. Being a scientific library, the LLC is open to anyone in Luxembourg and the Greater Region as it aims to be a gateway of knowledge exchange between the University and society.

Our mission

Learning in all its facets takes centre stage in our mission: from individual work places in closed rooms for silent work, to PC workstations, to collaborative work areas with multimedia furniture or in seminar rooms equipped with modern digital technology. Together with relevant content, the LLC supports information literacy as well as research excellence throughout the entire research life cycle – from literature services to dissemination, access and visibility.
Being a scientific library, the LLC is open to anyone in Luxembourg and the Greater Region as it aims to be a gateway of knowledge exchange between the University and Luxembourgish society. This is underlined by the close cooperation with the National Library of Luxembourg.

Still, the focus of the LLC remains the University of Luxembourg, with its students and staff. From offering a vast (digital) collection of media, tailored services like training courses on database use, to the management and publication of the scientific output of the University via the online repository ORBilu, the LLC supports scientific creation at the University of Luxembourg. This central and interdisciplinary role makes the LLC the centrepiece and a showcase for the University of Luxembourg.

The people of the LLC

At your service

Our staff supports you to find the best resources within the Learning Centre any beyond, helps you to enhance your teaching and to make the most of your research. Our staff consists of librarians, specialists and administrative support.

Marie-Pierre PAUSCH-ANTOINE

Marie-Pierre PAUSCH-ANTOINE

Head of Library

People in numbers

  • 28
    staff members
  • 10
    student assistants

The LLC architecture

The attractiveness of the Luxembourg Learning Centre (LLC) arises largely from its architecture that was designed by the Luxembourgish architect Valentiny HVP. The integration into the steel structure of the old Möllerei next to the two remaining blast furnaces as well as the contrast between the third of the building that was left as is and the futuristic, partly spatial, façade composed of triangular, spotted glass elements, embosses the DNA of the Cité des Sciences into the LLC building.

For the design of the façade elements, the architects were inspired by the patterns found on the old factory windows which were covered by the remains of the aggregates of the steel production. These patterns now serve as an aesthetical design element and, at the same time, as a functional element that regulates the light influx into the building – depending on the orientation the patterns are more dense to reduce the light influx , for example on the south side, while they are more open on the north side.

Seen from the outside, the façade patterns seem to be opaque. From the inside, its permeability becomes visible and, with the high portion of natural light, an agreeable and open atmosphere is created. The openness of the façade is perpetuated by the design of walls and ceilings: floating elliptical-shaped platforms within a lot of open space which allow for spectacular views, a giant skip from the old steel production with the conveyor belt running from the inside up to one of the blast furnaces directly next to the building, and a prominent main staircase.

To control the acoustics in such an open environment, sound-reducing carpets and acoustic panels have been installed. To reflect the high level of the building’s architecture and to counterbalance the industrial black-and-white dominance, the French agency Ligne & Couleur was consulted to compose the interior design with colourful furniture. A conference centre and three “garden” areas complete the picture of an open, attractive and vivid public space.

Architectural facts

Some details about the LLC architecture

  • Architects:

    VALENTINY HVP architects

  • Building lenght:

    110 m (plus 60 m of the old part of the Möllerei that was left as is)

  • Floors:

    7 (5 open to the public, 1 archive floor, 1 technical floor)

  • Construction work:

    ca. 14,000 m2 in total – of which

    • Public space: 9,000 m2
    • Administration: 880 m2
    • Archives: 650 m2
    • Conference Centre: 310 m2
    • Entrance: 160 m2
    • Garden: 170 m2
  • Number of seats:

    1,000 – of which

    • Individual work places: 558 (with PC: 152)
    • Collaborative work places: 408 (with multimedia functions/laptop: 163)
    • Conference room work places: 85
  • Shelf capacity:

    10,700 linear metres

  • Project planning

    2006-2018

  • Construction work:

    2013-2017

  • Opening:

    2018

The LLC in numbers

  • 10.7 KM
    of Shelves
  • 5
    Public Floors
  • 14k m2
    of surface
  • 950
    seats

History

The University of Luxembourg was formed in 2003 when the three, formerly autonomous, institutes of higher education in Walferdange, Limpertsberg and Kirchberg were unified. The, by then, autonomous libraries of these institutes, spread around Luxembourg-City, formed the “Bibliothèque de l’Université du Luxembourg” (BUL). Differences in procedures and methods had to be aligned and, at the same time, the challenges of serving a rapidly growing University and keeping up with the enormous changes in the library world had to be managed. On top of that, the Luxembourgish government decided in 2005 to move and unite the three campuses of the University in Belval, Esch-sur-Alzette, in the south of Luxembourg, close to the boarder with France. As a result, all three libraries had to prepare to merge and move south.

Belval, an industrial site left behind by the steel industry, was converted into the “Cité des Sciences” under the newly founded government-funded Fonds Belval. The University of Luxembourg opened its doors on Belval in 2015 and, gradually, the departments and institutes were moving from their former sites to the new unified campus. So did the University Library with the opening of the new Luxembourg Learning Centre (LLC) in September 2018.

Going back to 2006 when the planning for the LLC started with a meeting of the representatives of the Fonds Belval, the University of Luxembourg, and the architects Valentiny HVP that had won the call for tender, it was decided that the future premises of the then called “Maison du livre” should be the old “Möllerei”, the building where the coke was mixed with additives to light the blast furnaces of the steel production. Constructed in 1912 and modernised in 1965 the Möllerei had a total length of 170m. Only 110m were revamped to house the LLC while the remaining part was left as it was when the blast furnaces and the Möllerei were closed in 1997.

In the twelve years following the LLC project’s kick-off in 2006 the University grew at an enormous rate and the library needed to keep up with this quick growth. Besides limitations in staffing that accompanied the project especially in the years before the opening, the Luxembourg Learning Centre could open its doors on 12.09.2018 due to the strong commitment of all persons and parties involved. As the spirit of the hundreds of discussions between the stakeholders has been throughout the twelve years of planning and constructing, so is and should be the spirit of the Luxembourg Learning Centre in future: open – innovative – inspiring.

History facts

  • 2018

    Luxembourg Learning Centre opens

  • 2015

    First academic year of the University of Luxembourg in Belval –
    BiblioLab opens while the library in Walferdange is closed with the closure of the campus

  • 2006

    Planning starts for the “Maison du Livre”
    (later: Luxembourg Learning Centre)

  • 2005

    Decision is made to make Belval the main University campus

  • 2003

    University of Luxembourg is founded –
    the University library consists of four different libraries on three campuses
    (Walferdange, Limpertsberg, Kirchberg)

  • 2002

    The Fonds Belval is created to construct the “Cité des Sciences”
    (600 million Euros to revitalise the industrial area of 500 hectare)

  • 1997

    The iron and steel production in Belval is shut down