China’s latest landmark, the National Maritime Museum is now open to the public. 6 years in the making, the project is first of its kind. Designed by COX Architecture, after winning the international design competition back in 2013, the museum is located in the recently developed Binhai New Area, in the city district of Tianjin.
#donotsettle is an online video project created by Wahyu Pratomo and Kris Provoost about architecture and the way it is perceived by users. They visit buildings, make videos and write extended stories in their exclusive column on ArchDaily, #donotsettle Extra.
Yes, that library. The images of the Tianjin Binhai Library have appeared everywhere, from architecture blogs and news broadcasts to going completely viral on social media. We had to go see it and show you what the space is really like. So, we teamed up with MVRDV who sent us to Tianjin to see it up close.
Tianjin Binhai Library, designed by MVRDV, is part of the bigger master plan for the new Binhai Cultural Center (masterplanned by Germany’s GMP). The building has seen phenomenal success on social media reaching all corners of the world. Since the opening, the number of visitors has been constantly increasing, with many of them coming from way beyond Tianjin. It is a library as destination point, redefined.
Located within the new Binhai Cultural District, the library provides storage for as many as 1.2 million books on sweeping, terraced bookshelves in the building’s central atrium. At the center of the room, an enormous mirrored sphere houses an auditorium and reflects the miles of bookshelves around it, creating a dazzling atmosphere for reading and studying.
Check out some first looks at the interior from social media below, and be on the lookout for professional photos later this week.
Located within the Yujiapu Pilot Free Trade Zone, the TianjinJuilliard School will become a center for performance, practice and research, and will welcome in the public with a series of communal spaces and interactive exhibitions focused on the creative process and performance of music. Upon completion, the campus will serve as an international hub for artists to learn and meet, as well as become the first performing arts institution in the country to offer a US-accredited master’s degree.