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Main Building of Yangtze University College of Arts and Sciences
Jingzhou, Hubei, China
In the spring of 2022, builders from the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau cleared the earth at No. 33 Xueyuan Road in the Jingzhou University Town. By mid-September, they raised the concrete frame to its peak of 31.5 meters, making this library the tallest structure on the new campus of the Yangtze University College of Arts and Sciences. Workers finished the interior plaster and paint in late February 2023, preparing the 25,262.12-square-meter composite facility for its first generation of readers.
On April 10, 2023, the doors swung open. On the first floor, the hum of the 24-hour study area in the three-story annex blended with the soft glow of smart book cabinets and the fresh-paper scent of the new book exhibition zone. Nearby, the 160-square-meter School History Museum, inaugurated on November 2, 2024, preserved the institution's journey from its 2004 origins.
Ascending the building reveals a carefully mapped landscape of knowledge. On the second floor, the quiet rustle of pages fills the eastern Art Specialty area and the western Jingchu Literature and Chinese Classics rooms, while the northern wing buzzes with the low static of the Electronic Resources zone. Above, on the third and fourth floors, librarians spent the early weeks of April sorting volumes across open-shelf rooms dedicated to the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
The building also serves as the college's administrative brain. This six-story tower anchors a broader 600-acre, 2.3-billion-yuan campus development. It stands as a monument of concrete, glass, and paper, where the ancient heritage of Jingchu meets the daily rhythm of modern scholarship.