This was an open competition for a new library in Pudong area of Shanghai. Our proposal wanted to address not only an esthetically well-designed building but also a timely well designed one; so, we addressed a wider range of nowadays issues: pollution, excessive urbanization, carbon footprint, natural habitat destruction and the human connection with nature.
Urbanization and urban expansion in general have intensified, and through architecture the man becomes more and more "isolated" from nature. Today’s population is isolated in high-rise buildings, the interaction between people being limited to the built environment to such extent that we have lost the natural and beautiful natural environment.
Our main concept was using the concept of the wall to dematerialize it and give it a new role. Usually, the "wall" is the carrier of architecture, it carries the history and the future. The wall is the enclosing of space and the division of space. It is also the carrier of close connection, contact, proximity. Our proposal extended the street, the garden and culture into the interior space, let the building "wall" grow in nature (garden), let the nature (garden) be in the interior space of the building, blurring the boundary between the inside and outside of the building. The facade facing the city uses a simple, clean, and illusory overall image as the outline of the building while at the interior the spaces are more fluidly defined. The leitmotiv of the project is the use of green plants, which brings people and the natural environment to merge with each other – the customers can comfortably absorb knowledge and enjoy nature while in the library space.
A lot of energy saving technologies are used in the design. From new materials like the light-transmitting concrete material that allows the entire building environment to enjoy natural light. All the way to the green roof, that not only reduces the temperature of the building, plays an active role in the landscape but also collects and filters rainwater – reducing the library footprint from the energy consumption standpoint.