British designer Es Devlin has created Library of the Four Winds, a kinetic installation inside the Temple of the Four Winds garden folly on the grounds of the 18th-century country house Castle Howard in North Yorkshire.
Library of the Four Winds comprises an illuminated, revolving bookshelf located in the centre of the building, displaying 250 books from Devlin's personal collection with the spines facing inwards.
The designer worked with local firm Stage One to construct the installation, which sees excerpts from selected books projected onto the pages as the oval-shaped bookshelf rotates above a mirrored base.
The exhibition also features a soundscape of Devlin reading every other projected passage, with the breaks in the audio inviting visitors to read and interpret the words in their own way.
The site-specific installation highlights the ornate features of its surrounding architecture, guiding visitors towards the building's gold-adorned ceiling and domed, glass roof.
"I knew I wanted to do something circular, and it needed to be stretched into an oval so that it respected and responded to the height of the building and was somewhat directional," Devlin told Dezeen.
"While a circle sends you around a circumference, an oval has a pointer, and it points you up and down at the same time, into the ceiling and into the reflection of the ceiling," she continued.
"I also wanted to speak to repetition, not just shelves of books, but each line of the bookshelf is like another line of text, so you read the edges of the pages as a single text."
The installation commemorates the 300th anniversary of the passing of the building's architect, John Vanbrugh, and the National Year of Reading.
Vanburgh, who was also a playwright and activist, designed The Temple of the Four Winds as a place for reading and writing.
Outside of the building, Devlin designed tables lined with LED lighting. These hold additional books, selected by Devlin, that she felt would align with the architect's morals and interests.
"I see a lot of parallels between John Vanbrugh and my own practice. I might consider my own practice to be a practice of everythingism, and of course, that wasn't unusual in the time of Vanbrugh," Devlin said.
"It was much more common that you would be considered a multi-hyphenate. There was nothing unusual about being a playwright and an architect."
The installation follows two other library-based projects by Devlin, the Library of Us in Miami Beach and the Library of Light in Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera gallery.
"This is the first one I've done completely indoors, and so it has a sense of shelter. You can come out of the rain, sit inside and read a book. People are very quiet and contemplative in there," Devlin said of her latest library.
The photography is by Rick Walker unless otherwise stated.
Library of the Four Winds is on view at Castle Howard from 13 June to 27 September 2026. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.