These area bunch of shots and a video of a newly constructed library in the Binhai Cultural District of Tianjin, China. Its sprawling shelves can hold up to 1.2-million books, and center around a reflective, spherical auditorium. Oh — and for the record: the books above eye-level are actually decals and not real books, presumably because if the book you wanted was on the top shelf you would 100% die trying to reach it.

the five-story library, which was designed by Dutch design firm MVRDV in collaboration with the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI) and has since been dubbed “The Eye of Binhai”, covers 34,000 square metres [ ~366,000-square feet] can hold up to 1.2 million books. Taking just three years to complete, the library features a reading area on the ground floor, lounge areas in the middle sections and offices, meeting spaces, and computer/audio rooms at the top.

You know what my favorite thing about my local library is? The restroom. It’s clean, and it’s quiet — two things I look for in a bathroom. If it just had one of those novelty condom vending machines it would easily be in my top ten bathrooms of all time. And I have visited a LOT of bathrooms. Sometimes I’ll accept a friend’s invitation to come hang out just so I can scope out their bathroom. Plus take one of every kind of pill in their medicine cabinet, because it’s important to walk a mile in a friend’s shoes to better understand them.

Keep going for a bunch more pics and brief video tour.

Source: Geekologie – Is That A Spaceship?: China’s New Beautifully Designed 1.2-Million Book Library