While we are book lovers ourselves, the first image that comes to our mind when someone says library – is an old, dusty space with worn-out chairs & books, not to forget the outdated PC that runs on Windows XP. Oh, I am already depressed now!

But wait, China is going to change this perception with its new stunning library in the Binhai cultural city of Tianjin.

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**Image credit – Tianjin Binhai Library**

Occupying a whopping 33,700 square-metre, the luminous five-storied library referred to as ‘The Eye of Binhai’ resembles a huge eye and walking into the library will make you feel you’re stepping right into the eye.

The main attraction of the library is the giant, spherical structure in the atrium that is bright enough to illuminate the whole library. But please don’t get carried away by its beauty, there’s plenty of books to read!

Surrounding the spherical structure are the floor-to-ceiling cascading shelves that ebb & curve making its way right to the top. Worried about how you can reach to those books? Don’t be. The library carries a lot of tiny ladders & staircases that lead you to every nook & corner inside the library making all the 1.2 million books accessible.

First and second floors comprise of reading rooms, books, and lounge areas, whilst the upper levels carry meeting rooms, computer & audio rooms, offices, and two patio rooftops.

The futuristic-looking library was built by a Dutch architecture firm MVRDV in collaboration with the local architects from Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI) and the whole project just took 3 years to complete, which is totally impressive.

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“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.” – Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV