Located on a prominent corner in the heart of the Shapingba district, the new Chongqing Library is an important cultural asset for the 3,000 year-old mountain city and its 30 million residents. Perkins Eastman’s design includes a main library and museum as well as a conference center, auditorium, café, and reading lounges that together attract thousands of visitors every day. The library complex wraps around a large sunken garden inspired by the rich tradition of Chinese scholar’s gardens. Large modern glass façades fill interior spaces with light, offer views of the garden from within, and are adorned in large Chinese characters with famous quotations from luminaries from across the ages. Book stacks and service areas are clad in stone, representing the solidity of the library’s collection of 38 million books. These more restrained facades respect the library’s surroundings—their stone patterns reflect the design of older buildings in Chongqing and link the library to the city’s architectural heritage as it looks to the future.