Liyuan Library by Li Xiaodong Atelier

Located in a small village on the outskirts of Beijing, the Liyuan Library is a modest but green building created by Li Xiaodong Atelier in 2011, an non-profit library built for both tourists and local residents.

Architects: Li Xiaodong Atelier
Location: Huairou, Beijing, China
Photography: Courtesy of Li Xiaodong Atelier

The project Chinese name “篱苑书屋” means wattle garden reading house, because the building is clad with the local wooden sticks that blends into the surrounding nature landscape.

The interior is fully daylight space, and spatially diverse by using steps and small level changes to create distinct places.

Inspiration from architect:

Especially the choice of material is crucial in blending with the regional characteristics. After analyzing the local material characteristics in the village we found large amounts of locally sourced wooden sticks piled around each house. The villagers gather these sticks all year round to fuel their cooking stoves. Thus we decided to use this ordinary material in an extraordinary way, cladding the building in familiar textures in a way that is strikingly sensitive.

This project has won the inaugural Moriyama RAIC International Prize 2014. >>