The National Library was originally located in Tokyo, but the high land prices in the capital made any expansion impossible. The library was therefore moved to a site in the new Kansai Science City 500 km to the south-west. The entrance is marked by a strip of water 250 metres long with falls, on both sides of which are large landscaped areas with glazed north-light roofs embedded in them. Below these, the structure extends four storeys into the ground. The heart of the library, however, is the 5,850 m² reading room with views to the courtyard. The great size of the internal space facilitates a flexible layout that can respond to changing demands in terms of the increasing volume of electronic information. In the rear part are openly accessible books and journals. The bulk of the collection, though, is stored far below ground, beyond the reach of users, under climatically controlled conditions. The administration is housed in the main building: a glazed tract with an 80 cm double-skin facade. Situated on the first basement level here are a lecture hall, seminar and reading rooms. Thanks to the many visual links that have been created, visitors enjoy a good sense of orientation, despite the enormous size of the building. This aspect also played an important role in terms of security. The clear layout of the various sections and their segregation according to their content help to avoid any sense of monumentality.
