This Incredible Library With a Pool Roof Lets You Walk on Water

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.”