Tianjin Binhai Library
MVRDV + Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute · Tianjin, China · 2017
Tianjin Binhai Library is organized around a luminous spherical auditorium set within a vast terraced atrium. Curving floor plates rise around the central sphere to form seating, circulation and book-display surfaces, creating the image of a continuous interior topography. MVRDV and the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute integrated the library into a larger cultural complex while giving it a highly recognizable public room. Opened in 2017, the building became widely known for its dramatic atrium and represents a contemporary library model focused as much on gathering and visual spectacle as on collection storage.