Following the shelves upward at Book Mountain

When you find a book you want at the library, your steps usually stop in front of the shelf. Look at the titles, take out a book, and find a place to read it. The books and the route through the library usually serve separate purposes.

In the Book Mountain library in Spijkenisse, the Netherlands, designed by MVRDV, bookshelves shape the route. If you go up the space where books are piled up like a mountain, you will find a cafe at the top. There is a reason to walk through the library beyond finding one particular book.

A route around the bookshelves

The library designed by MVRDV was completed in 2012. Various functions within the building are stacked to create a pyramid shape, and bookshelves and a reading space surround it. According to the official description, bookshelves and reading spaces extend for 480m around the structure.

You can climb up the mountain of books by following the path connected to the wide stairs. The cafe above overlooks the surrounding city. Books fill the inside of the building under a glass-covered roof, and the scenery can be seen from the outside.

The interesting part of the photo is that the place to place the book and the place to read are in the same landscape. There is a place to sit for a moment next to the bookshelf, and you can see the surrounding buildings through the glass. Rather than hiding the library’s contents, the building puts books and the people spending time beside them on view.

A walk can end at a book

Not everyone comes to the library with a book in mind to read from the beginning. You may come in looking for a place to sit for a while or because you are curious about the building. If there are bookshelves next to the road you are traveling on, there is a chance that such a visit can lead to a time of encountering books.

In addition to reading, the library contains space for gatherings and other activities. The layout treats the building as more than one large book repository. What is important is not how many of these activities are included, but how the books and people's paths are intertwined.

The library's final destination does not necessarily have to be a cafe. You can take a book from a shelf along the way and stop. What appeals about Book Mountain is a route that lets you change your mind as you walk, rather than an experience completed only by reaching the top. The way upstairs also makes room to stop at a book.