Dutch firm MVRDV, in collaboration with the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI), looked to the structure of the human eye while crafting the futuristic Tianjin Binhai Library, which houses more than one million books.
Photography by Ossip van Duivenbode

Cascading floor-to-ceiling shelves of books naturally create staircases and seating areas for bibliophiles to read and relax in the pristine environment from MVRDV.
Photography by Ossip van Duivenbode

The hugely successful Zhongshuge bookstore chain’s outpost in Shanghai Réel Mall from X+Living forms a microcosm of busy Shanghai.
Photography courtesy of X+Living

Designed by X+Living, zebra crossings create a pathway for visitors in the clean-lined austere space, which is echoed on the ceiling.
Photography courtesy of X+Living

For the Zhongshuge location in Suzhou, the second by Wutopia Lab, visitors can escape to a colorful, enchanting, and psychedelic world divided up into distinct zones.
Photography by Hu Yijie

Thin perforated aluminum sheets in gradient colors create a rainbow sky of eye-catching fluidity in the showstopping Xanadu of Rainbows reading room from Wutopia Lab.
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Photography by Hu Yijie

The Cave of Fireflies is a dark tunnel where fiber optic cables dangle from the ceiling.
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Photography by Hu Yijie

The colorful canopy defines the bookstore’s art and design offerings.
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Photography by Hu Yijie

The open, circular Castle of Innocence hosts children’s books and is surrounded by ETFE walls, producing an inner world inside the bookstore.
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Photography by Hu Yijie

Crafted by Kokaistudios, the Alt-Life Bookstore in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China showcases the raw beauty of organic geometries and materials.
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Photography by Dirk Weiblen

A dramatic hanging staircase with a spiraling formation of white bookshelves connects the entrance, mezzanine, and main floor.
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Photography by Dirk Weiblen

Paired with the white bookshelves are translucent acrylic panels that filter and soften natural light that floods the Kokaistudios-designed space from a glass pavilion above.
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Photography by Dirk Weiblen