China’s new futuristic library with 1,2 million books is anything but ordinary [photos]

A new library in China is definitely any book lover’s dream!

The new library situated in Tianjin, a coastal metropolis located about 100km outside Beijing, has a total of 1,2 million books on display.

As of a 2015 audit, the main branch of the New York Public Library held an estimated 2.5 million books – if you’d like to compare…

According to The Telegraph the library comes after a collaboration between Dutch and local architects. They reportedly created the library in such a way to resemble a giant eye. This ‘eye’ also inspired the library’s nickname, “The Eye of Binhai”.

The library is five stories high, with a center consisting of 36, 000 square feet. The futuristic library also features books from floor-to-ceiling in a gorgeous spherical auditorium.

“The Tianjin Binhai Library interior is almost cave-like, a continuous bookshelf,” said Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV – the Dutch architect firm partly responsible for this masterpiece.

In a press release, Maas continue to explain the Library’s finer touches: “Not being able to touch the building’s volume we ‘rolled’ the ball shaped auditorium demanded by the brief into the building and the building simply made space for it, as a ‘hug’ between media and knowledge.”

“We opened the building by creating a beautiful public space inside; a new urban living room is its center.

“The bookshelves are great spaces to sit and at the same time allow for access to the upper floors. The angles and curves are meant to stimulate different uses of the space, such as reading, walking, meeting and discussing. Together they form the ‘eye’ of the building: to see and be seen.”

The building also contains extensive educational facilities, arrayed along the edges of the interior and accessible through the main atrium space.

“Public program is supported by subterranean service spaces, book storage, and a large archive,” added Maas.

From the ground floor visitors can easily access reading areas for children and the elderly, the auditorium, the main entrance, terraced access to the floors above and connection to the cultural complex.

What’s even better is that the first and second floors consist primarily of reading rooms, books and lounge areas whilst the upper floors also include meeting rooms, offices, computer and audio rooms and two roof top patios.

China opens possibly the world's coolest library, located in the Binhai Cultural District in Tianjin #travel pic.twitter.com/IcqB9oB9RE

— sobore (@sobore) November 13, 2017

Suppose it doesn’t get any better than this!