Recent star architecture for public institutions had become a phenomenon. In 2011, a new Nanhai Museum was built to celebrate the district's cultural heritage. In 2012, the new Guangzhou Library was completed. It's adjacent neighbor is the Guangzhou Opera House. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it is the provincial government's hope to establish it as a cultural icon and institution.
Libraries operate at different scales. The Guangzhou Library for example, is a major library that perform centralized roles. On scale of smaller communities, flexible community library also exist. Read the following pages for libraries on different scales.