In Oslo, Norway, a stunning new library has been given the prominent setting it deserves over the Oslo waterfront. Set just across the street from the equally grand Oslo Opera House by Snøhetta, Deichman Bjørvika is a six-floor modern marvel that hosts some 450,000 books. The interiors are a reader’s dream, full of skylights, huge windows with incredible views of the city and surrounding fjords, and a maze of bookshelves you could easily get lost within.

Designed in collaboration by the firms Atelier Oslo and Lundhagem Architects, the library has serious curb appeal for visitors arriving from Oslo’s central station, with its stepped and cantilevered upper story jutting out 65 feet. Plus, the building’s facade combines glass windows and translucent walls, and after dark, the whole structure glows. Inside, the floor plan revolves around a central atrium going all the way up to the building’s striking honeycomb-patterned concrete ceilings and skylights. Every level has access to daylight and lots of wide-open spaces, but there are cozy reading nooks to be found, too. The building feels enormous, but not in a way that’s necessarily overwhelming or uninviting. Instead, it feels like a bit of an adventure, offering much to be discovered.

Atelier Oslo and Lundhagem won a 2009 competition to design the building, which had options for the library to be placed on two different sites near the Opera House. They chose the more challenging...