After Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, and Far Rockaway Library in the USA, Snøhetta – in collaboration with local studio ECADI – has completed the Beijing City Library in China, a glass-lined building featuring at his inside towering tree-like columns that recall the Frank Lloyd Wright’s ones in Johnson Wax Administration Building, in Racine, Wisconsin.

Located in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, according to the studio, the project aims to offer a new vision for this typology, inspired by the outside and the landscape, influencing visitors’ movements, attention, and postures. “The terraced landscape and tree-like columns invite visitors to lift their gaze and focus at a distance. […] This is a place where you can be sitting under a tree, reading your favorite book”, said Robert Greenwood, Snøhetta partner. Another important theme is sharing stories, between different generations, from adults to children, through good memories and emotions.

Such as other famous libraries, also the heart of this project is a huge atrium – 16-metre-tall – which features a series of hill-like mounds, lined with tiered seating, stairs, and bookshelves. A winding walkway, intended to evoke the nearby Tonghui river, runs through this space, serving as the main circulation path.