Another state-of-the-art cultural landmark will become operational as the Shenzhen Library's north division in Longhua District has officially opened to the public today, marking a further step in the city's eventual plan to build 10 new cultural landmarks in the new era.

Located on the city's central axis and in the Shenzhen North Railway Station central business district, the new library stands across the Shenzhen Art Museum (new venue), which began full operation early last month. 

The library, with a total construction area of 72,000 square meters, is designed as a comprehensive and smart public library that can also function as the city's literature archive, as well as the document collection and editing center, network data center, and the literature dispatching center of Shenzhen as a "City of Libraries," according to Liu Zhe, deputy head of the project's preparation office.

The facade of Shenzhen Library's north division. Lin Jianping

The new library, with tech features in almost all its dimensions, can complement the functions of the main Shenzhen Library site in Futian District. It provides a total of 2,500 reading seats and houses an extensive collection of 8 million books.

In addition to six floors above ground, the library also features a three-floor-deep underground storage area with an automatic and intelligent book sorting system. The underground section, 18 meters deep and covering an area of 2,862 square meters, is roughly the size of seven basketball courts. It is the largest and first ultra-deep three-dimensional library in China. 

Through the automatic sorting and positioning system, readers can complete rapid borrowing in as short as 8 minutes. Once a reader submits a book request, the books will be retrieved by an automated carriage, which can travel from the underground floors to the top floors for readers to immediately pickup.

A reading room of Shenzhen Library north division. Photos by Liu Minxia

Both the library and the new art museum are among the 10 major cultural landmarks Shenzhen decided to build at the end of 2018, and both are designed by German studio KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten.

"It is a place where people can stay if they want to go outside," Jürgen Engel, president of KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten, said. 

"Personally, I like that the big atrium is surrounded by bookshelves," Thomas Busse, international managing director of KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten, said. Readers can always dive into bookshelves when going upstairs or downstairs one level by another because the first thing they see when stepping out of an escalator is a huge bookshelf, he explained. 

A smart book exchange center in the library.

Aiming to integrate literature collection, reading space, social education, idea exchange, cultural inheritance, and creative activities under one roof, the library boasts various themed reading areas, exhibition halls, lecture halls, and functional areas. 

Reservations are needed for admission and the library is open to a total of 8,000 readers per day, including 2,000 for the children's area daily. Readers who plan to drive there can submit their parking reservations one day in advance via the Shenzhen Library WeChat public account.