To realise Qatar Foundation's vision of a library with a million books in its main collection, we conceived a building in which the entire collection would be instantly visible within a single space. Our design for the Education City Central Library, with an area of 42,000m2, provides unprecedented immediate access to books – a reactionary approach to re-empower books as the primary medium of education and information in the age of digital technology. The library's form consists of two square plates (138m wide), pulled apart and folded diagonally at the corners to create a shell-like container. The sloped interior surfaces of the plates create three large terraces that are stacked with 300 bookshelves, visible from a central communal space called the Urban Plaza. The library employs advanced technologies such as automated book sorting systems, people movers, and electronic tagging to facilitate the easy retrieval of any of the million books in the collection.