This is the interior and furniture project for the newly opened public library in Tianjin city, China.  The large scale library houses 6 million books and total floor space is 58,154 square meters. The project includes bookshelves which are integrated into walls, aluminum panels for the interior wall, independent bookshelves, study desks, circular counter and benches in the entrance lobby.  Since it was one of the biggest project that we have taken part, in the beginning, it was perplexing to capture the whole image of the large volume and to seek a clue for the design.
First, we started from designing bookshelves as they are the main element of the library.  Along with the plan that bookshelves to be integrated into walls, we also designed the wall surface pattern.  At the same time, I had come across the idea that the design should intake the sense of distance, “near” and “far” in this large space.
As an example, if the wall surface is responding to the bodily sense of visitors who stay in the space, then the texture will appear different depending on the size of the space or the distance from the wall.  Based on this idea, the wall panels are designed relatively large, matching to the pitch of the shelf boards. Looking from near, the wall panels look larger in size, but they look like interior wall with small bricks from a distance.
Remarkably fine mullion system of bookshelves will become blurred among numerous books when seen from a distance, and “wall of books” will stand out.  
The furniture such as counters and benches that visitors have physical contact are assembled with slender steel rods.  The consecutive row of delicate rods will also fade out like a sheer curtain from afar.
Overall, the gradation of the distance between “near” and “far” is visualized by the delicate yet powerful design.