Jiaojiehe, a tiny village on the outskirts of Beijing, is lifting fortunes with Li Xiaodong’s prize-winning library.
The Li Yuan Library brings tourism to the village as it magnets day-trippers from China’s capital city.
In an interview after winning the Moriyama RAIC International Prize in October, Li said that the “biggest tree house on earth” gets 400 to 500 people every weekend and most of the tourists are from Beijing.
The award-winning architect, also an architecture professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said that the library is a tool to attract people to the village.
The library, about 90 minutes drive away from Beijing, brought in business to Jiaojiehe as villagers opened a lot of restaurants to give visitors a place to eat.
The visitors also spend money with the village’s pay parking fees and donate money for the building’s maintenance.
"Some visitors stay overnight," said Li. "There are little hotels in the village now as well. It's all new business."
Li, 51, combined his ideas of Western themes and traditional Chinese in building the library, which consists of one large room with pine fixtures.
The library’s base is made out of steel and glass box, while the exterior walls and roof are sporting fruit-tree twigs.
Readers can lounge with their books on the polished wood floor with elevated platforms, since the library does not have any chair or desk.
The tall tree branches are vertically arranged and allow natural light to pass through the library’s reading room. The spindly sticks also keep the building cool in the summer and cozy during winter.
"The library is running well because everyone has a feeling of ownership. They can take one book away, but are asked to donate two or three. It's not a lending library, people just go there to read," said Li.