Nandaihe is one of the most popular resorts in Northern China, where there are, among other things, a lot of Russians. However, the "Coastal Library", built there by the Beijing workshop of Vector Architects, is very different from the usual "tourist" buildings - although such an institution is generally difficult to imagine in a modern resort. However, in the case of Nandaihe, this is an object of a commercial developer, which turned out to be quite in demand by vacationers on the Pacific coast.
The architects were inspired by the coastal landscape with the remains of tarred fishing huts, the windows of which "frame" the views of the ocean, turning them into paintings. By the same principle, the library building serves not only its direct function, but also allows a person to perceive the ocean "deeper" and more personally than outside. In the reading room, a panoramic window and opening glass windows and doors below it act as a kind of stage, and visitors sit on the rising "amphitheater" to watch the main character of the "drama of nature" - the ocean. Light and sea breeze also penetrate through the rounded windows in the roof.
The library has a room for meditation, from where the ocean is not visible, but is clearly audible through two window-slits (one "catches" the dawn light, the other - the sunset). There is a roof terrace above this room. In addition, the building has a space for active pursuits, a bar and a relaxation area.
The authors of the project paid special attention to the materials. They regarded concrete as a man-made rock; on the other hand, the coarse formwork imprinted on its surface, as conceived by the architects, give it warmth, while the glass bricks on the ocean façade soften the rigidity of the steel trusses supporting the roof and change the quality of light, both solar and artificial.
