Library building architecture

Northside Library by NBBJ, Libraries are in transition. Once a point of knowledge dissemination and quiet introspection, they are becoming places to meet, socialize, study, hang out and plugin. Historically, we have seen a library’s civic value shift from a place for things, now, to a place for people.

Image 2 of 17 from gallery of Ramsey County Shoreview Library / HGA. Photograph by Paul Crosby Architectural Photography

Completed in 2021 in Warrnambool, Australia. Images by Derek Swalwell. The Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre replace the existing local library with a much larger, brighter, and more accessible space in the heart...

MVRDV has won the competition to design Wuhan, China’s new central library. The firm revealed the design for Wuhan Library, which has a canyon of books formed by a succession of sloping terraces. Wuhan Library is a 140,000 square meter project that will be “one of the largest libraries in China,” integrating traditional and modern uses and includes a variety of study, living room, reading, and studio areas.

Image 5 of 7 from gallery of Perkins & Will Begins Construction on Mass Timber Gateway to University of British Columbia Campus. Courtesy of Perkins & Will

Image 32 of 38 from gallery of New Library at the University of Bedfordshire / MCW Architects. Third floor plan

Snøhetta designs Temple University's Charles Library with "unusual geometry"

University of Helsinki Library

Image 4 of 17 from gallery of Snøhetta, Studio Gang and Henning Larsen Unveil Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Designs. Photograph by Studio Gang

The design includes a library to be designed on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. This library combines technology with traditional library style.

Image 23 of 26 from gallery of Saint-Eustache Library / ACDF*. Plan