Varna Horizon imagines a contemporary library that balances the activeness of the modern generation and the calmness of an earlier time, ever-present in the long hall of Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library. By carefully proportioning and interlocking a series of elongated rooms, a new environment for social and individual interactions emerges. Four series of elongated rooms are elevated by eight vertical cores, allowing for an open and permeable ground floor that creates a sense of expansiveness. The sequencing of rooms above establishes layers of enclosure and transparency modulated by long horizontal openings. Each interior space is connected and differentiated according to programmatic arrangement, creating multiple layers of privacy. The spacing of structural elements produces three vertical voids and a rhythmical interplay of light and shadow that creates enticing and varied atmospheres for gathering and learning. Varna Horizon is simultaneously a place of constant movement and inherent stillness, a center of public life and personal retreat.