In Beidaihe, a coastal resort roughly three hours’ drive from Beijing, this »seashore library« provides a cultural amenity for the 70,000 inhabitants and for holiday guests. The individual spaces are designed in quite different ways.
The bright reading room, for example, descends in a series of steps on which one can sit. The powerful steel lattice girder that bears the load of the concrete roof is concealed behind hand-cast glass blocks that break the light in different ways. Thanks to this girder, the broad panorama window remains column-free, allowing an unimpeded view of the ocean.
The bright reading room, for example, descends in a series of steps on which one can sit. The powerful steel lattice girder that bears the load of the concrete roof is concealed behind hand-cast glass blocks that break the light in different ways. Thanks to this girder, the broad panorama window remains column-free, allowing an unimpeded view of the ocean.