Snøhetta's socially cohesive Beijing Library design wins Public Library of the Year Award

Snøhetta’s 2023 design for the Beijing Library has won the IFLA/Baker & Taylor Public Library of the Year Award for 2024. 

The over 800,000-square-foot branch of the Capital Library of China is located in Tongzhou and features the world’s largest climatized reading space. A bold answer to many critics’ views that the typology has been pushed increasingly out of relevance in the digital age, Snøhetta’s design captures the spirit of the IFLA's mission of promoting "open and functional architecture" augmented with a creative implementation of technology and without regard to politics or geographic location.

Jury Chair Jakob Guillois Lærkes said: "[The] Beijing Library stands out as a vibrant and inviting book heaven with so many things to offer, as well as impressive sustainable solutions within the building. The jury were particularly impressed by how people, books and nature are connected throughout the design and programming of the building. It really stands out as a great example of a library for the future."

Perhaps the most apparent feature of the design is its unique forest-like arrangement of columns resembling Ginko trees that frames a glass curtain wall exterior. Users join together while seated on the 52-foot-tall wooden forum structure. The interior is intended to replicate the experience of sitting under a tree and reading. 

From its base, a sequence of stepped terraces occurs in the form of "smooth, rhythmic curves" that outline a bookend the middle ground space The Valley on either north-south end. The topography of the adjacent Tonghui River is repeated in the design's circulatory routes, and stacks are laid out against a stepped incline with additional seating for greater freedom of movement and usability. Other considerations for the award included the use of modular components combined with a rationalized structural grid to reduce manufacturing waste and embodied carbon footprint.

In terms of technology, the library features one of the largest Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) in the world. Its design also China’s Green Building Evaluation Label (GBEL) Three Star rating, which is one of the highest standard for green buildings in the country. 

The library's deputy director Li Nianzu said it now offers a "place that sparks curiosity and creativity, and it fully embodies our vision of transformation."

Snøhetta partner Robert Greenwood led the design team in China, which included the local studio ECADI. Three other projects – FJC Studio's Yellamundie Library and Gallery in Australia, the Kaunas County Public Library in Lithuania, and the new Shenzhen Library North from KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten – were named as finalists. The total cash prize for the 2024 FLA/Baker & Taylor Public Library of the Year Award is $5,000 USD.