Médiathèque André-Malraux is a municipal library in Strasbourg, located at 1 Presqu’île André Malraux on the Malraux peninsula near the Austerlitz basin, close to Étoile square. It stands opposite the Rivetoile shopping center and forms part of the Fronts de Neudorf district within the Deux Rives urban project, linking the Heyritz sector to the Port du Rhin district.
The library occupies a former port building of Armement Seegmuller, built in the 1930s and decommissioned in 2000. Its rehabilitation, designed by architects Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart, responds to a preservation approach that reuses existing buildings. The project retains handling cranes and the original silo, doubles the building’s surface area, and reworks other parts of the former industrial complex. Certain equipment elements were kept to preserve the industrial character and accommodate the building’s ceiling height, while red furniture refers to the site’s industrial traces.
The library is designed for 320,000 documents and 120 staff across six floors. It received the “Architecture contemporaine remarquable” label in 2023.
Nearby Objects
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Place d'Austerlitz 600 m away -
Saint William's Church 850 m away -
Wine cellar of the Hôpital civil 850 m away -
Haute école des arts du Rhin 900 m away -
Strasbourg Historical Museum 900 m away
Location and Administration
Mediatheque Andre-Malraux in Strasbourg is located at 1 Presquile Andre Malraux, 67076 Strasbourg. The institution is managed by Eurometropole de Strasbourg. Arsene Ott is identified as the conservator of the mediatheque. These details place the site within the urban setting of Strasbourg and identify the roles responsible for its administration and conservation.
Location and Urban Setting
The Mediatheque Andre-Malraux de Strasbourg is located on the Malraux peninsula, by the Austerlitz basin near Etoile square. It stands opposite the new Rivetoile shopping center, which was inaugurated in 2008. The building is part of the Fronts de Neudorf district within the Deux Rives urban project, and its setting links the Heyritz sector to the Port du Rhin district. This location places the mediatheque within a broader urban development framework and gives it a position between several key areas of Strasbourg.
Rehabilitation of a Former Port Warehouse
The Mediatheque Andre-Malraux de Strasbourg occupies a former port building of the Armement Seegmuller, built in the 1930s and decommissioned in 2000. Its rehabilitation project, created by architects Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart, responds to the objectives of the Societe d Amenagement et d Equipement de la Region de Strasbourg to preserve existing buildings for future use. The design retains handling cranes and the original silo, while also rehabilitating other architectures of the former Armement Seegmuller. It doubles the surface areas of the building and maintains certain equipment elements of the Seegmuller warehouse to preserve industrial aesthetics and accommodate ceiling height. Red furniture was also introduced as a reference to industrial traces.
The building was designed to accommodate 320,000 documents and to meet 70 percent of public library reading needs in the Strasbourg sector. It requires a staff of 120 people distributed over six floors. In 2023, the Andre Malraux building received the Architecture contemporaine remarquable label, joining the collection of labeled buildings in the Grand Est region.
Project Launch and Construction
The project was initiated by Robert Grossmann, former president of the Strasbourg urban community and a member of the UMP. Construction began in 2006 and lasted for two years. The overall cost was 64.5 million euros, with 20 percent of the funding provided by the French State.
Collections and Services
The fonds et collections of the Mediatheque Andre-Malraux de Strasbourg are organized into eight different themes. They include more than 250,000 loanable documents, as well as 35,000 CDs and 28,000 DVDs. The collections also include items specifically intended for youth. For on-site consultation, the mediatheque provides 500 press titles and more than 300 board games.
A video game collection is located on the fourth floor under the name Gametisch. The institution also has an Artotheque collection that is accessible for user loan. Together, these holdings show a broad range of materials for lending, consultation, and specialized use.
Centre de l'illustration at the Mediatheque
Located on the 5th floor of Mediatheque Andre-Malraux, the Centre de l'illustration is one of the institution's poles and instinctive collections. It is dedicated to illustration and graphic arts, with a mission focused on the preservation and promotion of illustration. The centre reflects the evolution of illustration and images through the ages, and it is recognized for its collections of pop-up books and comic strips.
The Centre de l'illustration functions as a space for preservation, dissemination, exhibition, and creation. Its collection includes more than 26,000 documents, among them animation films and books, as well as over 1,200 original works, including models and sketches. It also preserves an important youth album collection assembled by Strasbourg youth librarians since the 1990s.
Among its other holdings is a graphzine collection, including archives of the artists Hellsgard and Gfeller. These graphzines are preserved for heritage conservation, while fanzines are displayed but cannot be borrowed. The centre also offers media libraries the possibility to borrow workshops created at the centre. Each year, it hosts numerous activities, including Rencontres de l'illustration.