Book Mountain: You've Never Seen A Library Like This Before

In a world where traditional libraries are becoming less a part of our culture and more a part of our memories, this is such a refreshing sight to see. In the town of Spijkenisse (in the western Netherlands) where the illiteracy rate is 10%, the residents have a new reason to get excited about reading. It’s called Book Mountain, and it’s such an inspiring piece of architecture.

The incredible structure you see below is what is now known as Book Mountain. It’s a five-story library, enclosed in glass, with shelves made from recycled fireproof flowerpots and lots of sunlight shining in. The shape of the building is in a pyramid, which is an homage to the town’s history (the shape of a Dutch farm). People can go there not only to borrow books or sit and read, but also for an inspiring experience. The panoramic view from inside of Book Mountain scans the countryside, but that’s not all. Even the inside of the library is creatively designed with gorgeous spiral staircases and little passageways throughout.

Book Mountain was designed by MVRDV, and its purpose is simply to get people interested in reading. There are 15,000 books on those shelves, so there is surely something for everyone. You might wonder if this is one of the largest libraries in the world. As it turns out, it’s not even close. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. is the largest library in the world. It holds over 151 million items (which include 23 million books plus newspapers, music, reports, etc.). The National Library of China comes in second place with almost 30 million items. So even though Book Mountain may not win any awards for its size, it sure does win a design award, well, at least in my book.