Sitting Reading Under a Tree: A New Vision for Libraries

The long awaited Beijing City Library is just about as iconic as it gets. The glass-lined building, filled with towering tree-like columns and rooms disguised as hills, is designed  to "reinstate the library's relevance in the 21st century" and aims to offer a "new vision" for the typology. "The terraced landscape and tree-like columns invite visitors to lift their gaze and focus at a distance, taking in the bigger picture," says Snøhetta Asia Pacific director Robert Greenwood. "This is a place where you can be sitting under a tree, reading your favorite book."