Trust China to build something overwhelming. In its latest bid to stun the world with its modernist attitude which of course is a good thing, the Chinese have just built a spectacular library larger than a huge cathedral and it is one of the most imposing buildings in modern China. The Tianjin Binhai Public library named “The Eye of Binhai” is actually shaped like an eye and can hold up to 1.2 million books.
The fantastic futuristic structure has been built by famous Dutch design company MVRDV reputed for building several equally incredible projects in Europe including the Grand Market Hall in Rotterdam and the Balancing Barn in Suffolk. The spherical shaped library is located in Binhai Cultural District in Tianjin has been built over 34,000 square meters and is five stories tall. Take a virtual picture tour of the Eye of Binhai Library and you’ll be truly impressed.
Built in collaboration with The Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI), the library can store 1.2 million books and also features reading rooms and residing areas on the ground floor, offices, lounges, meeting rooms, computer room and a host of various facilities to give a reader or researcher a brand new experience. The building is futuristic in nature and that’s exactly the atmosphere inside.
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The atrium in the Eye of the Binhai library has been intentionally build to look like a 3D eyeball that stares right out at you from the main glazed `façade of the building. The internal area that is five storey’s high has its walls lined with bookshelves all the way up from the floor to ceiling. The terraced bookshelves have been designed to look like the contours of a topographical landscape. Shelves can be seen winding up all around the oval-shaped atrium.
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The interiors have been designed to resemble an eye socket because of the design of the bookshelves. There is a spherical glowing auditorium in the center that forms the eye pupil. The eye in the heart of the auditorium that mirrors the entire environment built around a 360-degree panoramic space for a reflective reading environment. The curved lines on the bookshelves provide sitting space for browsers to read and look around. The bookshelves ultimately form louvers that stop the daylight from coming in through the glass facades.
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The co-founder of MVRD Winy Maas in his description of the library said that it looked like a cave styled of bookshelf. "We opened the building by creating a beautiful public space inside; a new urban living room is its centre," He also mentioned how cleverly the bookshelves provided sitting space as well as allows people to access the upper floors. The angles and curves of the shelves are for a specific purpose providing various uses for a reader, to sit and read, walk, meet or discuss. This is the main area that forms the eye of the building.
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The grand design and concept of the library was revealed in June 2016 at a time the construction was well underway. The library isn’t the only cultural building commissioned by the Tianjin authorities. There are in fact four more structures that will be built by the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute that will be part of a new cultural center for the district of Binhai.
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The master plan created by German firm GMP was completed by MVRDV who found it difficult initially to construct according to plans within what they regarded as small space. This is why the present structure shaped like an eyeball ad the spherical auditorium was built to accommodate the restriction. According to Maas, "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,".
Maas revealed that the Tianjin Binhai Public library built over 33,700 square meters was the fastest project ever to be completed by the Dutch firm. It took just three years from board design to completion and inauguration ceremony.
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It seems a fast project isnt necccessarily a thorough one because against the intentions of the builders, the project has had drawbacks because, of the fast completion time. Speeding up the process resulted in the uppermost shelves being unreachable and are stacked with fake aluminum plates to look like books. MVRDV says that the initial plan was to provide access to the upper shelves but the idea was scrapped. Rooms that were supposed to be constructed for access were also dropped from the design.
Currently the shelves are cleaned by moveable scaffolding and ropes. The design company hopes that their original design which they envisioned for the library will be implemented in the coming future.
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There are education facilities in the Tianjin Binhai Library that are located along the building’s interior periphery. These are accessed from the main hall. There are also subterranean rooms which can hold large archives and added storage for additional books.
For the children and elderly, there are reading rooms on the ground floor so they won’t have to walk up. Meeting rooms. Computer and audio rooms and offices are located on the upper floors. The structure also has two roof top terraces.
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The Tianjin Binhai Public Library or the Eye of Binhai is connected to other cultural buildings by a public corridor that has been built under a glass canopy. Famous architect firms involved with the other cultural projects are Bing Thom Architects, HH Design ad Bernard Tschumi Architects.MVDV is based in Rotterdam and is headed by the chief architects Jacob Van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.
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The library is located outside central Tianjin where the grand master plan covered 120,000 square meters allocated for development and cultural projects hoping to transform the coast into a commercial hub. It will feature high rise buildings, large well planned neighborhoods’, open greenery and even a high speed train connecting the area with Beijing. The eye of Binhai is already open to the general public.
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