A new library in Shuangyue Bay, China, is technically underwater, though not in the way you might imagine. Designed by Chinese firm 3andwich, the recently opened Water Drop Library features a concave roof topped with a crystal clear pool. Composed of two distinct parts—a circular main structure and a long walled walkway extending into the surrounding terrain—the building has a “poetic tension,” the firm said in statement. Upon a first look, it’s a study in simplicity: two basic geometric forms, a single story, and minimal white facade. But on a closer look, the pool-roofed library half submerged into a cliff is anything but easy.
The protruding walkway welcomes visitors, who then descend through a staircase into the main structure. Readers can also enter through another entrance at the library’s base accessible via a series of pathways cut through the hillside.
The architects admit that accessing the library isn’t as simple as parking a car in a lot and walking through a pair of front doors, but it’s not supposed to be. “Entering the building is a journey to reunderstand nature and oneself,” the firm said in a statement. The circuitous terrain is supposed to symbolize the sometimes difficult educational journey. As such, the designers gave the exterior walkway a nickname: the path to the mountain of books.
Inside, the interior walls are made up of built-in shelving, while the outside ones are floor-to-ceiling windows encircling the space in natural light and expansive views of the sea. Reading areas styled with modern furniture are placed throughout the main room. In the center of the library, accessible through a break in the shelving, visitors will find a dark, secluded, and quiet room, engulfed in wood paneling.
A staircase leads patrons up the roof, where the building’s true genius takes shape. Bowl-shaped, the roof holds a shallow pool with soft blue waters. A series of stepping stones make it possible to journey into the aquatic repository’s center, and, if caught from the right angle, it gives the illusion that visitors are walking on water. “The building has a sense of existence,” the firm said, “and becomes the connection point between people and the environment.”