Looking like something out of a Kubrick film, the new Tianjin Binhai Library by MVRDV and local firm TUPDI features cascading floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that double as benches centered around a luminous sphere. From outside, the library has the appearance of a mysterious eye, with the layered interior elements acting as louvres for the facade. Gaze up at the walls from ground level and it seems like the books just keep going and going, all the way to the ceiling. The library contains an incredible 1.2 million books.

Designed and built in just three years, the Tianjin Binhai Library is located in the cultural center of Binhai district in the coastal city of Tianjin, outside of Beijing, China. It’s part of a complex of cultural buildings by prominent international architects, which are all connected by a glass canopy. The building has already become known locally as ‘The Eye.’

“The Tianjin Binhai Library interior is almost cave-like, a continuous bookshelf. 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” says Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV. “We opened the building by creating a beautiful public space inside; a new urban living room is its centre. 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.”

Along the edges of the interior, beyond those undulating walls, various educational facilities can be found on five levels. A subterranean service space holds even more books as well as a large archive. Books for children and the elderly are located at the lowest levels, and while it may look like the bookshelves grow less and less accessible as they reach the ceiling, it’s an illusion: the books on the higher levels are actually painted onto the surface of the wall.

You might be wondering how in the world they’re going to keep this bright white space clean. The answer, apparently, is ropes and movable scaffolding. Sounds like a fun job.

Shifting from paper to digital media hasn’t diminished the role of libraries in our communities, with many modern designs expanding to serve as cultural hubs with cafes, soundproof video rooms and even lookout points with panoramic views of the surrounding city. These 14 designs combine older traditions with new materials, programs and functions, juxtaposing thousands of years of collected knowledge with dazzling structures made of steel, timber and glass.

Revamped Medieval Tower Library

The crumbling medieval Torre del Borgo in northern Italy gets a new life thanks to a stabilizing renovation that added a stacked timber volume for addition space and outfitted the inside with a ribbon-like black staircase. Architect Gianluca Gemini strengthened the existing walls, added more windows  and created a means of getting to each of the four levels that also functions as a sculptural centerpiece.

Historic Chapel Turned Modern Library  in Italy

A sleek perforated aluminum tower contrasts with the traditional architecture of a former chapel in Lonate Ceppino, Italy, transforming it into the ‘Elsa Morante’ public library. DAP studio contrasts old and new, airy and solid, connecting the modern volume to the pre-existing structure with glazed passageways.

Monterrey Library by Anagrama

Built-in wooden bookshelves curve up and connect to form a cocoon-like architectural feature at the Monterrey library by Mexico City-based studio Anagrama. Set within a staircase, this unusual space doubles as a reading room, with padded bench seats  on either side of the steps.

Barn-Like Timber Dainville Library

Formerly a farm building, the squat brick section of the original Danville Library gets a beautiful and functional barn-like addition to bring it into the modern era, with timber slats adding architectural interest and screening the interior from direct sunlight. The new gabled areas by BplusB architects give the interior a cathedral-like feel.

New Library for Baghdad by AMBS Architects

The first new library for Baghdad since the 1970s, this unusual structure by AMBS architects takes its shape from the arabic Kufic word for ‘read.’ Stretching out into a lake, the building will feature the world’s largest reading room as well as a massive double-curved glass roof to flood the interiors with natural light.

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Room To Read In A Digital World 14 Modern Library Designs

The jaw-dropping intricacy of the libraries of old, with their leaded glass windows and tiers of dark wood shelves, is being replaced in favor of clean lines, open spaces and a focus on new technology in library architecture of the late 20th century and beyond. These 14 (more!) modern libraries are just as beautiful, boasting dramatic shapes and volumes, high ceilings, transparent walls and, of course, impressive stacks of books.

Jose Vasconcelos Library, Mexico City

(images via: lwy)

Dedicated to Jose Vasconcelos, a philosopher and former president of the National LIbrary of Mexico, this 409,000-square-foot library was built in 2005 and 2006 for $98 million, but had to be closed for 22 months due to construction defects. Row after row of gleaming steel form abstracted geometric patterns and impress upon visitors just how many books are contained within the shelves.

Idea Store Whitechapel, London, UK

(images via: architizer, archrecord)

A traditional library is combined with space for classes inside a diaphanous blue and green glass volume in Adjaye Associates’ Idea Store Whitechapel. The flagship building of a program that aims to push libraries into the 21st century, including the latest digital technology, Idea Store includes a five-story atrium.

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

(images via: lauren manning)

Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is housed in an unusual modern structure built in 1963; it’s the largest building in the world reserved just for the preservation of rare writings. Inside, the books are stacked six stories high. The walls are made of translucent marble to let in minimal light, a tactic that preserves the delicate books and papers.

Black Diamond at the Royal Library Copenhagen, Denmark

(images via: e-architect.co.uk)

SHL Architects gave Copenhagen an incredible new landmark with the Black Diamond extension to the historic Royal Danish Library. This monolithic design is surprisingly airy and open on the inside, encouraging not just the study of books but also the exploration of new types of media. “We are drawn to these projects for their potential to engage the public and not only to give cultural and social life to their cities and towns but also for their ability to work as a accelerator for learning and knowledge,” says Bjarne Hammer, an SHL founding partner.

Villanueva Public Library, Colombia

(images via: archdaily)

Local materials and a local workforce help make the Villanueva Public Library in Colombia a sustainable structure. The collaboration between four young architects places two volumes, one made of solid stone and the other an airy latticed pine structure, right beside each other in a visually engaging contrast.

Parque Biblioteca Espana

(images via: architectural record)

Located on a hillside in the neighborhood of La Ladera in Medellin, Colombia, the Parque Biblioteca Espana is a stark trio of monolithic modern buildings looking down on what was once among the most dangerous neighborhoods in Latin America. Designed by Giancarlo Mazzanti as a symbol of hope, the library, auditorium and community center buildings were inspired by the shape of boulders.

National Library of Belarus

(images via: mondoarc)

The entire facade of the geometric National Library of Belarus is an LED dispay; during the day, the glass panels glimmer in the sun, and at night, they’re illuminated from within to put on a constantly shifting light show. The library is an incredible 23 stories tall and contains the third largest collection of books in Russian.

TU Delft Library, The Netherlands

(images via: galinsky.com)

A striking conical volume emerges from what appears to be a green hill, but is actually a subterranean library with a living roof. The library at Delft’s University of Technology was designed by Mecanoo and completed in 1997. The cone shape descends into the main room of the library and contains spiral staircases leading to reading rooms.

Halmstad Library, Sweden

(images via: e-architect.co.uk, archidose)

Designed by SHL Architects, the sweeping Halmstad Library in Halmstad, Sweden overlooks the River Nissan and curves around a pre-existing mature chestnut tree. The library, completed in 2007, is comprised of one large open space in the interior which is made to feel all the larger by floor-to-ceiling windows.

Vancouver Public Library, Canada

(images via: greenroofs.com, wikimedia commons)

With beams and arches towering into the air, the Vancouver Public Library resembles, from the outside, an ancient Roman aqueduct. Designed by Moshe Safdie and built in 1995, this unusual structure includes an attached office high-rise, retail shops, restaurants and parking in addition to the public library system. It is topped by a rooftop garden that is not open to the public.

Baton Rouge Downtown Library Concept, Trahan Architects

(images via: archdaily)

A controversial $19m proposal may land Baton Rouge a new downtown library designed by Trahan Architects. The project is on hold while the city works out budget concerns. The library draws upward like an extended accordion, and inside, concrete platforms supporting subsequent floors seem to hover in midair. A stairway coils around the inside of the striking glass envelope.

Ann Arbor District Library, Michigan

(images via: archdaily)

Ann Arbor, Michigan boasts a beautiful modern library designed by InFORM Studio. Replacing a 4,000-square-foot library located in a strip mall, the new structure, completed in 2008, is long, low and geometric. Rustic natural tree trunk columns echo the woods outside while high ceilings, pale ash and white paint make it feel even more spacious.

UCSD Giesel, A.K.A. Doctor Seuss Library, San Diego

(images via: libraries.ucsd.edu)

UC San Diego’s University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in 1995 after an author who’s made a major contribution to children’s literature: Dr. Seuss. This unusually shaped, eight-story library was designed in the 1960s by William Pereira and is sited at the head of a canyon.

Tana Art University Library, Tokyo, Japan

(images via: dezeen)

Completed in 2007, the Tama Art University Library in Tokyo was designed by Toyo Ito. Cold, unyielding concrete is engineered in soft swooping arches, both in the shapes of the windows and the ceilings of the interior. Says Ito, “The spatial diversity one experiences when walking through the arches different in span and height changes seamlessly from a cloister-like space filled with natural light, to the impression of a tunnel that cannot be penetrated visually.”