The New Beijing City Library Has the World’s Largest Reading Room

China has unveiled a lot of impressive architecture in recent years, much of it designed by world-class firms from around the world.

Another example of that is the new Beijing City Library, designed by Norwegian firm Snøhetta.

The enormous new public building has been billed “the largest climatized reading space in the world.” The glass enclosed space features a high roof with a clean white and warm wood interior, complete with lily pad or gingko-leaf style roofing panels.

The irregularly shaped exterior walls and references to nature give the library an organic and welcoming feel. We particularly like the restrained color palette, which should make the design relevant for decades to come.

Photography via Snøhetta by Yumeng Zhu.

Inside, the main reading space is massive, with terraced benches and seating that invite visitors to sit, read, and study. The huge space is one of the world’s largest load bearing glass systems, and testament to the unique design and engineering needed to achieve the space’s feel.

Winning China’s most stringent environmental rating, the Beijing City Library has proved that cutting-edge design doesn’t have to conflict with building responsibly.

“At the heart of the library is a sweeping, nearly 16-meter-tall welcoming forum off of which rise stepped terraces that follow smooth, rhythmic curves and a central meandering pathway known as the Valley.

Serving as the main circulation artery, the Valley mirrors the course of the nearby Tonghui river, seamlessly continuing the experience of the landscape beyond and linking the north and south entrances to lead visitors to all other spaces inside.

The terraced hills rising from the Valley are designed to create a sculpted interior landform that serves as the ground, seating, and shelving—an informal zone with opportunities to relax, talk, or read quietly, all while staying connected to the larger space.”

         -Snøhetta

We also admire the way this structure celebrates books, reading, and the power of a public space, especially in our hyper-connected digital age.

The library features the largest Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) for books in the world.

More than just aesthetic or load bearing, the tall, slender columns are multi-purpose:

“For the ginkgo tree columns, a single module type is rotated on a 9x9m grid to give the appearance of variety while being efficient to fabricate and install. These columns also house integrated technology to control interior climate, lighting, and acoustics, as well as collect rainwater for reuse.”

With design and construction work spanning five years, the project officially completed in late 2023, with the library opening to the public in early 2024.