MVRDV’s Tianjin Binhai Library Goes Viral via #YearInDesign2018
When @interiordesignmag launched the #yearindesign2018 campaign for our 1.6 million Instagram followers to share their top images from the past year, the Tianjin Binhai Library in China by MVRDV was the resounding fave, garnering nearly 27,000 likes. But with such celebrity comes a touch of controversy. What appears to be rows upon terraced rows of books in the five-story main hall is actually images of books printed on aluminum plates. But that was not MVRDV’s design choice; it was due to a fast-track construction schedule and may be altered in the future. There are still some 200,000 volumes contained in the 362,000-square-foot library, as well as an enormous luminous sphere of an auditorium referred to as the Eye. Some 15,000 people visit the library per weekend.
