
Charles Library at Temple University
Snøhetta, Philadelphia, US
Snøhetta has shelved away its latest library design at Philadelphia’s Temple University. Sitting at the heart of campus, the Charles Library was developed in collaboration with engineering firm Stantec. The layout rethinks conventional library tropes, introducing a wave of technologies and collaborative and social learning facilities to the 39,000-strong student body. Flowing wooden arches, elegant glass volumes and a striking three-storey domed atrium lobby are capped by a 47,300 sq ft green roof, one of the largest in Pennsylvania. This contributes to the site’s stormwater management system, which relocates heavy rainwater to two underground catchment basins. Photography: Michael Grimm

Yan at MIXC
Tomoko Ikegai / Ikg Inc, Shenzhen, China
Shenzhen Bay’s MIXC commercial complex plays host to a bookstore design well read in Zen Buddhist philosophy. Realised by Ikg Inc’s Tomoko Ikegai, (who also designed the historically-imbued YJY Maike Centre Flagship in Xian), Yan was conceptualised with the theme of ‘life in the East’. The store’s layout embodies this expression – a rammed-earth wall closes off the interior as a space for personal emotional and mental reflection. The rammed-earth wall is composed of numerous colourful local soils, while mock Italian travertine tiles express the idea of accumulation and experience developed over many years. The store’s slim, golden bookshelves, meanwhile, fade into the wall, implying that visitors are immersing themselves in a sea of books and knowledge (where, in accordance with Buddhist philosophy, we can discover truth for ourselves).

Idea Exchange, Old Post Office
RDHA, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
A listed masonry post office dating to 1885 has gained a new glazed pavilion that wraps around the existing architecture and cantilevers slightly over the bank of the Grand River. This structure is Canada’s first ‘bookless’ library. Instead of books, it holds a hoard of facilities including maker spaces, a black box theatre, film and audio recording suites, gaming areas, a children’s centre, a floating classroom and outdoor rooftop terrace. The architects struck up a conversation between old and new across the design. Ceramic frit patterns on the glazing were inspired by the texture of the historic stone façade. And as well as the contemporary extension, the historic post office has been carefully preserved and adapted to its new function. Window openings in the old building are now entrances to the Reading Room Café. The exposed roof structure in the attic maker space has been adapted with sleek LED lighting and a new glass ceiling reveals the clock tower in action. Photography: Tom Arban

Children’s Library at Concourse House
Michael K. Chen Architecture (MKCA), New York City, US
Tucked snugly into a mezzanine space, Concourse House children’s library has been designed by NYC-based Michael K. Chen Architecture (MKCA) for story-telling and other book-inspired events. The layered and colourful space was designed to visually stimulate children who are being supported by Concourse House, a Bronx-based charity working to prevent homelessness by providing families with safe transitional housing and social services. Custom-designed solutions created an inspiring, adaptable and neat space for multiple uses. A curved illuminated shelving unit fits into the shape of the barrel vaulted ceiling, providing a creative backdrop and a screen to enclose the library as a cosy environment separate from the double height multi-purpose hall beneath. Variations of texture include a bright carpet and a smooth back-painted glass erasable writing surface on the paneling. As well as being made possible through donations of time, money and books from Sisters Uptown Bookstore, the library was designed pro bono by MKCA who also co-ordinated in-kind donations associated with the project. Photography: Alan Tansey

Tianjin Binhai Library
MVRDV, Tianjin Binhai, China
Within MVRDV’s futurist Tianjin Binhai Library, a rippling wave of cascading bookcases stretches from the floor to the ceiling. These bookcases orbit the luminous ‘Eye’: an enclosed sphere that contains an auditorium space. Of the five storeys, the first two consist primarily of reading rooms, book storage and lounge areas. The upper floors offer meeting rooms, offices, computer and audio rooms and two rooftop spaces. The library is part of a larger framework that sees the city of Tianjin Binhai receive a whole new cultural district. Spanning some 33,700 sq m, the project took only three years to complete following its initial sketch up. It now acts as a junction point for the city’s Central Business District, old town, residential districts, commercial areas and government quarter. Photography: Ossip van Duivenbode. Writer: Luke Halls

Zhongshuge Bookstore
XL-Muse, Yangzhou, China
The writing’s on the walls, ceiling and floors of Yangzhou’s bookshop, where an optical illusion turns an ordinary, rectangular room into a cylindrical tunnel. Created by Shanghai-based studio XL-Muse for book retailers Zhongshuge, a black mirrored floor paired with two walls of arched shelving helps to create a seemingly never-ending funnel of books. The design is inspired by the rich cultural heritage of Yangzhou, said to be a historical gathering place for literati and poets. The lead designer Li Xiang took inspiration from a verse in the classic Chinese romance novel A Dream of Red Mansions, by Cao Xueqin, which is thought to refer to the area in which the shop now stands. (‘Spring flower and autumn moon, green hills and clear water; 24 bridges, relics of the Six Dynasties,’ it reads.) The arched shelving represents the ‘24 bridges’ in Xueqin’s verse, and a swerving line in the ceiling represents the ‘clear water’ or river. Visitors are supposed to flow with the river, swept along by the black mirrored floor, deeper into the bookshop and ‘into the vast ocean of knowledge,’ explains Xiang. Photography: Shao Feng. Writer: Elly Parsons