Ping Shan Tin Shi Wai Cultural and Leisure Buliding

Ping Shan Library is one of the few rare cases of government public libraries that has a strong sense in spatial design and material use, a nicely executed design scheme from the Architectural Services Department. Really hope there could be more of such quality public libraries around Hong Kong, just like those in Scandinavia, to encourage reading culture and rid ourselves of the cultural dessert image of HK.
Being the second largest public library in Hong Kong (the largest is the Central Library in Tai Hang), it is 7 storeys high, full of books and audio visual materials for lending or using inside the library. The special thing about this library, as opposed to other inward-​focused libraries in Hong Kong, is that it has many outdoor reading areas and atrium spaces with high headroom. The books are organized around a central staircase winding around an atrium. You’d feel as if you are walking outdoors with all the sunlight filtering in, and it makes the place so much more pleasant. Small terraces and outdoor decks are scattered around the building, so you can opt read outdoors after you borrowed a book (pity too little seating in these outdoor areas, otherwise they’d be much better utilized). There are also indoors pocket spaces here and there with upholstered seating where you can curl in and indulge in a book.
Material-​wise, it opted for a more rustic texture and cool color tone, such as wood, rusted copper, dark coloured tiles and metal claddings, to induce a vintage yet modern look and feel to the building, so that it can blend in more smoothly with the Traditional Chinese palette in the buildings at the nearby Ping Shan Cutural Walk. Usually cool tones are not used in communal government buildings in HK, but the Ping Shan library prooves as a successful case that such a ‘cool’ building can also be much liked by local citizens, as shown by how crowded the place is on a daily basis.