Dutch firm MVRDV has built a public library that looks like a huge eye, as part of a new cultural district in Tianjin, China.
The atrium of the Tianjin Binhai Public Library is deliberately designed to look like a 3D eyeball, staring out through the building's glazed facade.

The five-storey-high space is framed by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which are staggered at different levels to form the shape of an eye socket, while a spherical mirrored auditorium at the centre forms the pupil.

The curving lines of the shelves provide areas where visitors can sit and read, and observe others doing the same. They also continue out across the glass facade, forming louvres that deflect the glare of the sun.
Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, described the finished interior as "almost cave-like, a continuous bookshelf".
"We opened the building by creating a beautiful public space inside; a new urban living room is its centre," he said.
"The bookshelves are great spaces to sit and at the same time allow for access to the upper floors. The angles and curves are meant to stimulate different uses of the space, such as reading, walking, meeting and discussing. Together they form the 'eye' of the building: to see and be seen."

MVRDV first revealed its designs for the Tianjin Binhai Public Library in June 2016, when construction was already well underway. It is one of five buildings commissioned by the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute to for...