In the remote village of Yanzitou, China, a whimsical new children’s library has emerged, designed by Kong Xiangwei Studio to resemble a cluster of mushrooms. Conceived as a “fantastical village landmark,” the Mushroom Library combines playful architecture with cultural significance, forming part of a broader plan for a future community center.
Commissioned by the local government, the library responds to demographic challenges common in many rural Chinese communities—particularly youth migration and an aging population. Despite having just 71 households, the village bursts to life on weekends as children return from boarding schools, filling local spaces with energy and joy. The Mushroom Library was designed to capture and nurture that vitality, offering a gathering point that fosters intergenerational connection.
Nestled on a narrow, rocky site between two older buildings and shaded by a mature raisin tree, the library was carefully built around this existing natural feature. Its structure—developed in collaboration with local craftsmen—uses ribbed steel bars shaped into soaring, stalk-like arches. Concrete is then cast around these forms, creating the impression of towering mushroom stems.
Above, an undulating, mushroom-cap roof is punctuated with circular openings, including one that frames the canopy of the central tree. This sculptural roof shifts in character depending on the viewer’s angle: from the east, it resembles the brim of a hat; from above, a playful, almost cartoon-like face. At night, illuminated from within, the building glows like a UFO hovering over the village—an emblem of imagination and regeneration.
The interior is designed to evoke a sense of wonder. A central installation made of steel rods and colorful acrylic panels casts shifting patterns of light and shadow throughout the reading space. Concrete vaults replace traditional materials such as thatch and mud, providing durability while invoking the feeling of a primitive, protective shelter. Wooden bookshelves are seamlessly integrated into the curves of the structure, and a sloped concrete wall offers seating where children can lounge and observe the play of light over time—transforming the library into a quiet stage for natural rhythms.
Visitors can also ascend a set of concrete steps leading to the roof. There, a small platform enclosed by a metal railing offers views over the village and surrounding landscape—and a chance to pluck fruit from the raisin tree that pierces the roof canopy.
Mushroom Library joins a growing trend of small, innovative libraries in China, such as the Twisting Brick Shell Library near Quzhou and the angular library built on an ice-chrysanthemum farm in Xiuwu. Each represents a creative reimagining of public space in rural settings, aiming to connect people, culture, and landscape in meaningful ways.
