Architecture porn: the project of the moment you need to see

The 'continuous bookshelf' everyone is obsessing over

(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)
(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)

A new library and cultural center outside of Beijing has become the obsession of the moment for book lovers online.

Designed by the Rotterdam-based design firm, MVRDV, the almost 363,000-square-foot Tianjin Binhai Library’s book shelves simultaneously serve as stairs to take readers higher into the stacks as well as seating areas.

(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)

(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)

“The Tianjin Binhai Library interior is almost cave-like, a continuous bookshelf,” MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas said in the firm’s press release.

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(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)

The curving walls and smooth wave-like edges of the book shelves are meant to act as a social hub “to see and be seen” in — a concept its architects hope transforms this library into a “new urban living room.” The building was completed in three years as part of a five-building development with each new structure devoted to a public and cultural function. They’ve got the Internet’s attention.

(Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy MVRDV)

E.K. Hudson