The upcoming Beijing sub-centre library by Snohetta is anticipated to become China’s first self-supporting glass façade design project. Expected to be completed by the end of 2022, the project was commissioned to the Norwegian architecture company when they won it in an international design competition back in 2018. The firm has worked on its architecture, landscape, and interior design together with local partner ECADI.

Founded in 1989 by Craig Dykers and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, the firm has since grown manifold and positioned itself as an illustrious name in the international space of architecture and design. With offices in Oslo, Innsbruck, San Francisco, and New York, and a portfolio comprising a diverse scale and range of projects, some of their recent works include twin glass towers for Duett Dusseldorg opera house in Germany, the glittering Le Monde Group headquarters in Paris, a stark art and culinary space in Tokyo, and a series of pentagonal hiking timber cabins in a picturesque location of Luster in Norway.

A decade ago, libraries were thought to be a disappearing typology as digitisation has increasingly made information accessible at any time and place. To reinstate the library’s relevance in the 21st century, Snøhetta set out to offer a new vision for how it looks, works, and serves the community. The Beijing City Library draws focus on the physicality of a book as an object and the conscious exercise of turning the pages to take in the written word as the primary experience amidst the picturesque setting of hills, trees, and the Tonghui River.

“It is the love people have for books that has made libraries survive the digital age and hold new potential to give back more to the city and its public”, says Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Co-Founder and Partner at Snøhetta. “It is up to us to reinterpret the relationship between body, mind, and the surroundings to rekindle the joy of reading away from the screen. Libraries are here to stay.”

For the sub-centre library, Snohetta has designed a 16-metre high glass enclosure housing a forest-like canopy and a common space formed of seemingly fluid, interconnected amphitheatres. The stair seating inside is punctuated by slender columns which extend from the ground level to the roof and further branch out to form the canopy. As described by the design team, the roof canopy alludes to the form of Ginkgo, a Chinese tree characterised by its large form and fan-shaped leaves. The columns also double as a technology component connected to services of climate control, lighting, acoustics, and rainwater disposal.

Under the ginkgo canopy, one can reach the summit that overlooks the valley of books and the horizon of the vast landscape beyond. This experience of oneness with the immediate surroundings and the imagined world offered in books allows the reader to forge memories that are unique to the place. “The terraced landscape and tree-like columns invite visitors to lift their gaze and focus at a distance, taking in the bigger picture. This is a place where you can be sitting under a tree, reading your favourite book", says Greenwood. “The Beijing City Library has an intergenerational quality about it, where you would pass on your stories to children and introduce them to the titles you’ve loved.”

In continuation the design team shares, "The library was designed and created to celebrate a public space for learning, information exchange and open discussions, as well as celebrating Beijing’s heritage and rich cultural history of science, art and performance. This has been emphasised by creating a common space as the centre of the library, highlighted by a prominent sculpted learning landscape that covers and permeates throughout the whole library.”

The terraced hills rising from the valley are designed to create a sculpted interior landform that serves as the ground, seating, and shelving like an informal zone with opportunities to relax, talk, or read quietly, all while staying connected to the larger space. Semi-private reading areas and conference rooms are embedded into the hills, while book stacks and table seating are set on long, flat areas atop. This central open area is fully accessible and incorporates one of the largest book Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) in the world.

The reading spaces are diverse within the connected schematic of the library. There are as many cosy nooks to immerse one in the world of their favourite books as there are areas of conversations and public discourse. "Creating a feeling of being tall and low, open and closed, private and public all at the same time. There are no designated "sections" or categorisations of knowledge,” say the architects.

Linking the architecture with its context, the glass façade of the library reveals an uninterrupted peek into the interiors while intriguing passers-by to explore the space. The central valley that acts as the backbone of the design facilitates views of the reading zones as well as enables north-south circulation within the various spaces. 

The Beijing City Library rethinks how libraries today can address the pressing climate challenges while incorporating cutting-edge technology to improve visitor experience. The building achieved China’s GBEL Three Star, the highest attainable sustainability standard in the country, by minimising both embodied and operational carbon. The project is as much a steward of its environment as of the communities it serves.

The use of modular components and a rationalized structural grid reduces the manufacturing waste for the building. For the ginkgo tree columns, a single module type is rotated on a 9x9m grid throughout the building to give the appearance of variety while being efficient to fabricate and install. These columns also house integrated technology to control interior climate, lighting, and acoustics, as well as collect rainwater from the roof to be reused for irrigation by channelling it to a green infrastructure system.

Generous roof overhangs reduce solar gain on the glass facades i: e currently the largest load-bearing glass system in China, which achieves an important design element without compromising on sustainability. To further optimize the facade, the design reduces the height of the glass on the east and west wells and uses insulated Low-E glass. The roof has integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) construction elements that replace the conventional roofing and facade materials, utilizing the prime exposure of the rooftop to sunlight for renewable energy production.

The completion of Snøhetta's Beijing City Library marks a significant milestone in architectural innovation and sustainability. This monumental project, now open to visitors, stands as the world's largest climatised reading space, embodying a harmonious blend of tradition and forward-thinking design. Rooted in Beijing's cultural heritage, yet poised for the future, the library serves as a testament to the power of inclusive public spaces and environmental stewardship. Its cutting-edge features, from integrated photovoltaic elements to locally sourced materials, exemplify a commitment to sustainable design and construction. By fostering inclusivity and community engagement, the library paves the way for a brighter, more interconnected future.

Project Details

Project Name: Beijing City Library
Timeline: 2018-2023
Client: Beijing Planning and Natural Resource Bureau
Location: Beijing City Library, Lv Xin Road Courtyard No.1; Building No.3; Tongzhou District, Beijing
GFA: 75,000 sqm
Height: 22.3m
Status: Completed
Disciplines (by Snøhetta): Architecture, Interior Architecture
Typology: Library
Certification: Green Building Evaluation Label (GBEL)—“China Three Star”
Collaborators:
Executive architect: ECADI
Structural, geotechnical, and civil engineer: ECADI
Cost Consultant: ECADI
Building sustainability engineer: ECADI
Façade & BMU engineer: Eckersley O'Callaghan, Meinhardt
Lighting designer: ECADI
Main Contractor: China Railway Construction Engineering Group