With arches and mirrors, Chinese bookstore looks like a work of Escher

The photos of the Dujiangyan Zhongshuge bookstore don't look like a real place but rather a representation of some lost, mystical library, like the one in Alexandria. The project, however, has already been built and is located in Chengdu, a province in central China, on the banks of the Gobi Desert. It was created by the architecture company X + Living, from Shanghai, responsible for signing other bookstores for the same chain. Li Xiang, founder of X + Living, gave details of the bookstore's design to the Architectual Digiest website.

A surrealist cathedral of reading

The space resembles a cathedral, thanks to the mirrors on the ceiling and the black tiles on the floor that also reflect the shelves. “The mirrored ceiling in the space is the signature of Zhongshuge bookstore. It effectively extends space by reflection.” says Li. For those who climb the helical staircases, the impression is that they are walking through an Escher work, as the books seem to continue infinitely, both upwards and downwards. The arches and columns in the center of the store were positioned to take advantage of 100% of the location's height and were inspired by the region's topography and architecture. “The project is located in Dujiangyan, which is a city with a long history of water conservation development, so in the main area, you can see the dam construction style integrated into the racks,” explains the architect.

And if you're wondering how employees manage to grab the books at the top, the answer is that on the upper shelves, the books are fake: the store uses a type of sticker with the spines printed on them. “If we put real books on the top shelves, not only will it be difficult for readers to reach them, but it will also be difficult for operators to take care of them,” says Li. As the store has a collection of more than 80 thousand books, readers do not need to worry about a lack of collection. On the first floor, there is a cafe and a children's section, the latter more open and with bamboo shelves decorated with pandas. The second floor balcony has chairs where guests can browse books, work or just chat and relax.

Holistic design

Li comments that every part of the bookstore, down to the details, was designed to offer a unique experience to patrons. “This project is a holistic concept. We needed to coordinate all parts of the space to ensure that any functional item, be it a bookcase or a table, does not deviate from the concept theme and at the same time has a sense of beauty.” For him, architecture and design can represent natural elements in an artistic, sometimes even abstract, way, reproducing the enchantment we have in the face of the magnitude of nature. These constructions, products of human ingenuity, must, according to him, use biomimicry to benefit our society. [april-see-also]W3siaWQiOjk2MjMzLCJ0aXRsZSI6IlN0dWRpbyBBcnRodXIgQ2FzYXMgdH JhbnNmb3JtYSBjb25zdHJ1JiN4RTc7JiN4RTM7byB0cmFkaWNpb25hbCBlbSBOb3ZhIFlvcmsifSx7 ImlkIjo5NjE5OCwidGl0bGUiOiJGJiN4RTE7YnJpY2EgZGUgY2FmJiN4RTk7IG5hIEdlJiN4RjM7cmdpYSBwYXJlY2UgZG9icmFkdXJhIGRlIGNvbmNyZXRvIn0seyJpZCI6OTYxNDEsInRpdGx lIjoiS2VuZ28gS3VtYSBhbmQgQXNzb2NpYXRlcyByZS1pbWFnaW5hbSBwciYjeEU5O2RpbyBoaXN0JiN4RjM7cmljbyBlbSBPc2FrYSJ9XQ==[/abril-see-also]