From the National Library of France that opened last year after a decade-long renovation to the Zikawei Library in shanghai that encompasses 200,000 square metres of marvellously designed internal space, these libraries are a bibliophile’s dream, but also architectural attractions in their own right.
From 18th-century architectural jewels to modern wonders, Design Dispatch peeks inside these impressive libraries that have human interaction and grand design at their heart.
Austrian National Library – Vienna, Austria
Completed in 1737, the Austrian National Library is considered Europe’s largest baroque library, home to more than 7 million items. An imposing façade is a taste of what’s inside – the State Hall, lined with wooden shelves, extends 80 metres in length and 20 metres high. A central dome features 18th-century frescoes by artist Daniel Gran, while statues of notable personalities from Austrian history fill the grand court.
Serpentine Bookhouse – Shenzhen, China
Informed by the spiral shape of a conch shell, the Serpentine Bookhouse in Shenzen, China is as much of a recreational space as much as it is a library. Designed by Atelier Xi, its steel structure is lined with full-height windows, which founding principal Chen Xi told Dezeen creates an experience for visitors walking inside, where the view “unfolds continuously, elevating their perspective like an unrolling scroll painting.”
Old Library at Trinity College Dublin – Dublin, Ireland
Located within the Trinity College Dublin is the Long Room, a 65-metre-long wooden chamber featuring a barrel-like ceiling. It is considered a main attraction of the institution’s 18th-century Old Library, completed in 1733 by Irish architect Thomas Burgh, and houses the college’s oldest collection of leather-bound books, artefacts, manuscripts and sculptures.
Zikawei Library – Shanghai, China
Architecture firm Wutopia Lab designed the Zikawei library in Shanghai, a three-storey building with an internal space of over 200,000 square metres, with the local populace in mind. “A welcoming library reactivates the community and renews the city,” the firm’s founder, Yu Ting, told Interior Design, and while many visitors are there for its striking appearing rather that its texts, he says “the Zikawei Library should be more inviting, not only attracting people who read but also those who don’t.”
National Library of France – Paris, France
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France reopened last year after more than a decade of renovation works led by architecture firm Atelier Bruno Gaudin. The main reading room, known as the Salle Ovale (or oval room), was originally designed by architect Henri Labrouste with a vaulted glass ceiling and intricate mosaic work in the Beaux-Arts style, while thousands of prestigious books line the building’s internal perimeter available for the public to peruse.
Stuttgart City Library – Stuttgart, Germany
Yi Architects designed a 44-metre-wide cube composed of a precast concrete framework for the Stuttgart City Library, which rises 40 metres above ground. The main internal gallery hall is a grand five-storey square with an interior circulation arranged in a spiral format, “designed to be flowing promenades flooded with light from the glass roof,” the firm says.
Main photo: Zikawei Library – Wutopia Lab / CreatAR Images
