For a lot of us, libraries simply mean solace. Surrounded by hundreds of books and only books, with your own quiet, personal corner to devour them for hours at a stretch- who wouldn’t want that! If you’re feeling this, then you’d definitely want to know about some of the amazing libraries in the world, right? Well, for starters, if you’re either a book or even architecture lover, you need to check out the Stuttgart City Library in Germany. The entire structure is a giant, cube-shaped, 9-storeyed building which houses thousands of books and a ton of other cool features. Read on to know all about this beaut!
Image Source: Library Building 
Image Source: bluesyemre
Located in Germany, The Stuttgart City Library is the public library which comprises of the central library, 17 city district libraries, and two bookmobiles. For all those who don’t know, back in 2013, it received the national award as Library of the Year in the country.
The Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart library’s new building features a simple cube-like design and a minimalist white interior, which opened its doors in 2011. It has about 11,500 meters of floor space and all sides are equally 45 meters in length just like a cube. The library stands tall at 40 meters with 9 floors.
What sets it apart is the unique structure
It’s a bright, all-white and nine-storey design which will make you feel as if you have entered a modern art gallery. The most interesting feature of the Stuttgart City Library is the reading room, which is shaped like an upside-down pyramid. Trust us guys, it’s not your average library. Designed by Eu Young Yi, it takes the form of a cube with each side measuring 45 meters.
The Municipal Library is open to people of every nation. The outer walls have the word ‘Library’ written silver letters in English on the west wall, in German on the north, in Korean on the East and in Arabic on the south. This has been done to indicate ow people from all nationalities are welcome here. You can access the library from all four sides.
Image: Arch Daily
The main floor which is the ground floor is a giant, hollow cube-shaped space that spans four storeys and is illuminated by a central roof light. From outside it looks like a plain grey boxy building but from inside its totally white except for the books.
Image Source: dodho
Image Source: dodho
Above the 4-storey space, there is a 5-storey pyramid-shaped reading room, which is surrounded by various study rooms. You can find a children’s library, music library, study rooms, Graphotheque, administration, and accessible roof terrace to check out the view. Another major thing that caught our attention was for sure – the stairs! They are so schematically placed in pairs which connect whole space together.
There’s a cafe, painting gallery and more in here
Image Source: Children’s nook
Image Source: Children’s nook 
Image Source: YouTube
On the top floor, you can witness a cafe and at night the building is totally lit up like a hotel and if you look up it’s totally stunning. The cafe is named LesBar (Reading Bar), there’s a space for children to play and acquire the habit of reading. Books for children are cleverly put in so that they can easily go through them. Yes yes, we know kids are mostly attracted to the cover of the book.
On the top floor, there is a room full of paintings. But do you know what’s the coolest thing? To locate the painting you can browse paintings list on the PCs and you can find where the painting is located in the library archives. The entire library has plenty of study rooms with PCs for watching movies, documentaries, listening to music etc.
You can simply head up to the 8th floor to see a panoramic view of this gorgeous looking library. Apart from that, there are other function rooms like a children’s room, a workstation, a studio, computer labs and more. Sounds like the complete deal, right?
Image Source: jakobboerner
We know the above pictures feel as if they are straight out from canvas but no guys this is an actual library located in Germany. All the booklovers, add this one to your wishlist!
(Featured Image Source: The Architecture Review)
