A stunning seaside library that redefines summer reading

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

The beach is a reader’s oasis. With the waves crashing in the distance and the endless blue above and below the horizon line, it’s impossible not to get lost in your book. Knowing the escape a summer beach read provides, Vector Architects in Beijing, China have designed the awe-inspiring Seashore Library that allows readers to experience this feeling year round.

Completed in May 2015 and now open to the public, the Seashore Library on the coast of the China Bohai Bay in Nandaihe connects the building’s form to its natural surroundings. According to Vector Architects, “the design is focused on exploring the co-existing relationship of the space boundary, the movement of the human body, and the shifting light ambience, the air ventilating through, and the ocean view.” The result is a spacious library divided into unique sections: the Reading Area, Meditation Space, and Activity Room.

Principal Architect, Gong Dong who founded the cutting edge architectural firm in 2008, headed the project. Gong’s modern designs that “respect the existing environment with the support of logic and reason” have won him many prestigious awards and placed him as one of the most active young architects in China.

Below, Urban Agenda gives you a preview of this modern marvel on the seashore.