This attractive building named the Mountain House in Mist, by Shulin Architectural Design, serves as a library and meeting place in rural China. It's elevated on stilts and sports a translucent facade that offers lots of natural light inside during the day and makes it glow like a lantern in the evening.
The Mountain House in Mist is located in a remote area called Liangjiahe Village, in Zhejiang Province, that lays claim to fame as the place current Chinese leader Xi Jinping was dispatched to as a young communist during China's Cultural Revolution.
The library is situated near the center of the village and has a total floorspace of 156 sq m (1,679 sq ft). It's primarily constructed from pine and is elevated by 10 wooden stilts. Its raised design creates a covered semi-outdoor space beneath that includes tables and chairs for villagers to sit and chat, plus a small bar. The area also hosts a central water feature fed by rain.
The interior proper is finished in pine and is simple but well done. You get the sense that it was built to a budget, though we've no word on its actual cost. In the reading rooms, nets are used to make the staircases and mezzanine floor safer to use and seating is installed on the floor. Long book-lined corridors enclose the reading spaces and visitors are encouraged to stroll along them, book in hand.
Additionally, windows are strategically placed so that parents can sit on the windowsill and read while keeping one eye on their kids in a nearby playground below.
The Mountain House in Mist was conceived in 2016 and completed in late 2018.
Source: Shulin Architectural Design
It has a quiet simplicity and natural feel, and the structure's roofing and woodwork blends it in with the rest of its surroundings. What a wonderful place to read a good book, and in a remote village too. The glazing must have heavy duty UV shielding because I don't see how this library can function otherwise.