Quarry No.8 Book Mountain
200best ES
DnA_Design and Architecture
2021
Type
Library
Tags
cultural facilities, second life, 200Best
Visitability
Allowed
Description
Only a few metres from Quarry No. 9, one finds the entrance to Quarry No. 8, which houses a location for reading and studying that is distributed over various platforms in the interior. The space extends about 50 metres into the mountain and reaches a height of nearly 40 metres. This cave, too, was created as a result of stones being quarried by hand from the top down. The lateral terraces are evidence of faulty rock, which is why the quarrying of blocks was abandoned and a random interior topography was created. Nearby this quarry are places where scholars met in historical times to debate their ideas. The Tang Dynasty poet Han Yu spoke of how the path through the Mountain of Knowledge (Shushan) is only made possible through diligence. With its cultural connotation, this space is thus the most important one in the group, since, here, a cultural and educational ideal that every schoolchild in China immediately recognizes is inscribed in the found situation. The lateral stone terraces in the interior develop over five levels up to a height of 12 metres, which can only be climbed with a certain amount of effort. Positioned on these platforms, which are accessible by stairs, are shelves of books and places for studying, where visitors can immerse themselves in the world of stone inscriptions and calligraphy. Like the proverbial mountain of knowledge, the galleries that must be climbed on the way to the top level pile up in front of the visitor. From there, a 27-metre-long tunnel leads to Quarry No. 2. While Quarries No. 10, No. 9, and No. 8 are scheduled for completion in the spring of 2022, the other stations are still under construction.( Text by Eduard Koegel , first published on world-architects.com )