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Imaginative Library in Rural China is Made of Twigs

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A humble village library in rural China represents a completely original approach to creating a shelter with wood.

Simple wooden sticks temper the bright light and spread it evenly throughout the space to provide for a perfect reading ambience.

Jiaojiehe village near Beijing commissioned an innovative architect to design the new library, Li Xiaodong.

HomeDesignFind covered his Bridge School Project – which won the Aga Khan Awards.

Internally, the library is supported by an exposed modular chunky timber frame that is both strong and interesting aesthetically.

Outside the thick frames, a glazed glass shell encases and weatherproofs the structure.

On the outside of the glass, locally sourced twigs are inserted into a modest wooden frame to hold short lengths in an organized fashion.

The villagers gather sticks like these all year round to fuel their cooking stoves, and have piles of them outside their houses.

The new building makes use of this ordinary and locally familiar material in an extraordinary way.

Instead of adding a new building within the busy village center, the architect chose to site the new library in the nearby countryside, an easy five minute walk from the mountain village.

The idea is to provide a quiet and contemplative setting when one consciously decides to go and visit the reading room.