Book Shaped Buildings

The World is full of odd architectures. Some of which were covered earlier in the "Weird House Around the World". I now present two book shaped buildings. These buildings may be odd looking but these are definitely not weird. I would say that these are beautiful and very thematic. One is located in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and the other in Kansas City, USA.

1. National Press Building, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Also known as "House of Free Creativity" it was inaugurated on October 23, 2006 by the then President Saparmurat Niyazov and cost about $17 million to build. The building houses  media organizations of Turkmenistan. Unfortunately further details about this book shaped building are not available.

Image from Panoramio is by Goetz Burggraf

Image from Panoramio is by rolandrumpff

View location Google Earth Google Maps

Source of info: boingboing.net

2. City Library Parking Garage, Kansas, Missouri, USA

Image from Panoramio is by Tutt

Image from Panoramio is by marnox1

Image from Flickr is by jonathan_moreau

It may be worthwhile to note that above images are of the south façade of the Parking Garage of Kansas Central Library. Actual library is across the street on the east end of giant book shelve as seen in GE street view capture given below.


(Enlarged View)

The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet (7.62 metres) by 9 feet (2.74 metres), are made of signboard mylar. 22 titles (full list) are showcased on the book shelf facade reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees.

View location in Google Earth / Google Maps and Street View

Source of info: http://www.kclibrary.org

Update - A Collection of Bookshelf Murals Around the World has been added on April 21, 2015.