Library Design
How library buildings are designed, from civic cultural centres and monumental public libraries to community microlibraries and experimental reading spaces.
Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects Strings Fan-Shaped Timber Libraries Along a Park Canopy in Xinyang
In Xinyang's Hundred Flowers Park, CLT reading rooms, polygonal kiosks and a tiled restroom pavilion share one winding membrane canopy.
Cyber Library: A BookMark 2020 Shortlist That Builds a Porous Library From 2 Metre Modules
Yifan Su and Yumeko recast the library as a cyborg: a modular, terraced framework where reading, leisure, gardens and exchange share the same slope.
KEVIN IN THE WOOD: A Library Reimagined as a Cluster of Timber Cabins for Community Life
Daeun Yang's shortlisted BookMark 2020 entry turns the woodland cabin into a public library where reading shares space with exhibitions and exchange.
Eat, Move, Think and Create: A Modular Library That Folds Daily Life into Girona's Reading Rooms
A shortlisted BookMark 2020 entry stacks modular containers around a planted atrium, letting cooking, gardening and reading share one public room.
TReading: A Library Organised Like a Tree, With Social Life as Its Trunk
Yuxiang Qi and Yang Yang's BookMark 2020 Editor's Choice entry stacks reading branches around a social trunk beneath a light-filtering canopy.
BOOK CELL: A Shortlisted Library That Breaks the Book Apart into Cells for Reading, Research and Public Life
Amin Farhoudi splits an open book into stacked, suspended volumes, threading terraces, trees and digital learning through a public library.
Into the Books: A Shortlisted Library That Trades the Silent Archive for a Social Hub
Shreeju Shrestha's BookMark 2020 entry turns a neutral platform into a field of freestanding shelves where reading, meeting and events overlap.
The Book Yard: Reused Shipping Containers Wrapped Around a Courtyard Library in Girona
An Editor's Choice entry for BookMark 2020 stacks reused shipping containers into a square ring of reading rooms, terraces and a shared community yard.
The Path: A Rammed Earth Library Where Reading Becomes a Journey Through Curved Rooms and Gardens
A runner-up at BookMark 2020, this low rammed earth library threads a curved corridor through social rooms, quiet reading spaces and sunlit gardens.
OUTSIDE: A Girona Library Without Walls, Where Bookcases Stand in the Grass Under One Open Roof
A broad translucent roof shelters bookcases, gardens and a sunken fire pit in Girona, turning the public library into an open civic landscape.
Compact Library Run by the Community: A Replicable Shell Where Reading, Learning and Meeting Share One Room
A two-storey demountable library tested in Munich, Vilnius and Kyiv treats books as a backdrop for searching, sharing and communicating among neighbours.
Community Library in Girona: A Section That Climbs From Public Forum to Private Study
A shortlisted BookMark 2020 entry that stacks a library from public exchange at ground level to quiet study above, around a central information core.
