Unlike other arts, architecture is generally limited by practical matters, including what materials can do, how things stand up, and in most cases (but not so much this one) an array of challenging local building codes.

A firm in Mumbai, India called sP+a developed this vaulted brick library roof with a playful purpose in mind, allowing people to walk up and over it like a bridge to cross the school grounds it sits in the middle of — on a cool evening, the heat-absorbing bricks also create a cozy open-air reading area.

The idea is conceptually simple: the ground simply extends up and over the top. In most places, a railing would be required, if the steepness didn’t stop the design in its tracks, but not here.

“On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence,” explains sP+a. “We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’.”

“The design team became interested in the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, its use by Spanish architect Guastavino in the early 19th century, and the details used in the work of uruguayan engineer and architect Eladio Dieste. to articulate a pure compression form for the library, sP+a used rhinoVAULT — a form-finding plug-in developed by the block research group at ETH zürich. consequently, the Maya Somaiya Library is the result of lessons learned from different time periods as well as geographic locations.”

Paired to fantastic effect, a series of arch-forming shelving units and a black-mirrored floor create a wraparound tunnel in a Chinese bookstore, punctuated by a fracture leading visitors through the resulting passageway.

Designed by Shanghai studio XL-Muse (images Shao Feng), these floor-to-ceiling shelves in the Yangzhou Zhongshuge bookshop drew inspiration from the winding and reflective Zhen Yuan river nearby, as well as the area’s arched bridges.

“In the past, guided by water, many literati and poets visited and gathered here,” said XL-Muse, and these regional infrastructural icons were “used to be the guiding factor of culture and commerce, and they represent that the bookstore is the bond between humans and books at the same time.”

The tunnel opens up into a vast library-worth realm of further reading in the cavernous interior, with architectural elements echoing the arches of the entry corridor. The rounded-and-arched theme is carried through in thin pillars and sloping displays.

Additional interior design dimensions come into play in themed reading spaces for children and adults, with starry ceilings and other humanizing elements. Here, furniture colors and shapes soften these spaces and make them more comfortable and inviting for longer-term occupation.

Adding to its existing collection of over 800,000 seeds, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has just received a series of 4 deliveries representing species from 100 countries around the world. Started in 2008, this ambitious project is designed to safeguard our agricultural heritage for present and future generations and in the face of climate changes, but also to provide a catalog that inventories available types for future accessibility.

The growing store, managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, represents a critical repository of agricultural history and a meat-space (or more apt: seed-space) backup for both global crops and other smaller gene banks scattered around the world.

Though the contents were collected in a few cities prior to packaging and reshipment, their types and strains are myriad. “The shipments include types of wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, peal millet, chickpea, groundnut, Asian and African aubergine. Seeds of a number of indigenous African vegetables, including okra, amaranth, spider plant and jute mallow are also being deposited.”

Svalbard, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. The seed vault is cut into rock in this remote location, and the seeds within it continuously refrigerated for long-term storage. The vault structure itself, as currently constructed, can theoretically store up to 2.5 billion seeds representing 4.5 million varieties.

There are many dimensions to the vault trust’s mission. According to the trust, “preserving different food plant varieties will help breed and develop crops that can withstand a changing climate, for example, by being more drought resistant or able to cope with higher temperatures” As a form of genetic wealth, crop diversity provides security for the future of food for farmers and world citizens alike. The GCDT is seeking additional donations from individuals, institutions, businesses and governments to maintain and grow its endowment (approaching $1 billion USD) for the sake of humanity and in the face of climate change.

Fortunately for those who worry about the future, there are other repositories around the world providing a cloud-like backup network bolstering the mission of this seed bank. “Worldwide, more than 1,700 genebanks hold collections of food crops for safekeeping, yet many of these are vulnerable, exposed not only to natural catastrophes and war, but also to avoidable disasters, such as lack of funding or poor management. Something as mundane as a poorly functioning freezer can ruin an entire collection. And the loss of a crop variety is as irreversible as the extinction of a dinosaur, animal or any form of life.”