"The angles and
curves are meant
to stimulate
different uses
of the space,
such as reading,
walking, meeting
and discussing."
ing over 362,000 square feet of
space. "e plot is situated be-
tween the cultural corridor de-
signed by GMP's master plan
and Zhongyang Avenue road,"
Lopez explains. Adding that
the space was conceptualized to
replicate an urban living room,
she says, "the brief was to create
a new library as part of a larger
master plan in order to trans-
form Tianjin Binhai cultural
district into a world-class area
between the city and public park
nearby."
e entire program revolves
around the luminous sphere.
"For this project the main chal-
lenge was to create a design that
was ambitious and rethink the
typology for a library, so it is
no longer a dull and depressing
environment." Lopez explained,
"the idea of the ball, as a central
district performance auditori-
um, pushes the space away to
create the cave-like public atri-
um and the accessibility from
city and park side contributed
to design." Nicknamed e Eye
of Binhai, the translucent sphere
that anchors the five cultural
buildings is the focal point of
the library. e sphere's iris per-
forates out through the build-
ing's polished exterior and onto
a neighboring park, functioning
as an auditorium with a capacity
to hold 110 people.
e first thing visitors notice
is the rolling topography of the
bookshelves surrounding e
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