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Entwurf • Design Wutopia Lab, Yu Ting, CN-Shanghai
Bauherr • Client Zhongshu Bookstore, CN-Suzhou
Standort • Location CN-Suzhou
Nutzfläche • Floor space 1.380 m 2
Fotos • Photos HU Yiji, CreatAR, CN-Shanghai
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More infos on page 138
ZHONGSHU BOOKSTORE
IN SUZHOU
Print is alive! Despite all the gloomy predictions and
„Dünne Aluminiumlayer in sanft
the digital media, readers continue to buy well-made
books and magazines. In Suzhou, the Chinese booksto-
abgestuften Regenbogenfarben
re Zhongshu has opened its eighth branch. Wutopia
Lab has designed an exciting scenario for the store.
ergreifen Besitz vom Raum.“
Four zones, as different as the chapters of a book are,
take readers on a voyage of discovery.
A uthors who want to captivate their readers at best start with the
very first sentence on the first page. Booksellers who want to
lure potential customers make sure they have attractive shop win-
1 dows. If the bookstore is on the third floor of a high-rise building,
however, there has to be a good reason to go there. In the Chinese city
of Suzhou, one of the Chinese boom towns next to Shanghai, biblio-
4
2 philes have every reason to keep going to Zhongshu again and again.
3 Yu Ting, the founder of the Shanghai-based creative studio Wutopia
Lab, designed a unique scenario! The entrance of the bookstore is a
brightly shining room which Yu Ting calls the Sanctuary of Crystal. The
5
extremely minimalist, literally dematerialized space is bordered by
translucent glass bricks. Displays of acrylic glass suspended from the
ceiling present the new publications like precious museum exhibits.
6 Then an abrupt change of scene follows. The Cave of Fireflies turns
out to be a true darkroom. A forest of shiny optical fibres hanging
7
from the ceiling brings light into the darkness – an exceptional instal-
12 lation one would rather expect to see at trade fairs. The tunnel-
shaped room leads into the large main area, the Xanadu of Rainbows.
There one finds a kaleidoscope of colours. Thin, perforated alumini-
8
um sheets in softly graded rainbow colours take over this room and
11
produce a cheerful, airy-light atmosphere. Ample daylight intensifies
9
the luminosity of the colours which are also visible on the façade. The
coloured lamellae meander through the U-shaped layout and overlay
1 Haupteingang • Main entrance
2 Buchempfehlungen • Recommendation book its orthogonal structure. Together with the organically formed,
3 Magazine • Magazine
4 Café und Kasse • Café and cashier 10 custom-made shelves of different heights, seating steps looking like
5 Leseecke • Reading corner sandbanks and island-like furniture, a scenario resembling a land-
6 Hauptbereich • Main hall
7 Kunst & Design • Art & Design scape was designed for pleasurable browsing. At the very back, where
8 Event-Bereich • Event space
9 Kunst & Design • Art & Design the red lamellae turn step by step into soft pink, is the area for chil-
10 Lesecamp • Reading camp dren. A thin, translucent ETFE-membrane filters the shadows of the
11 Kinderabteilung • Children’s ward
12 Lager • Storage little houses behind. Some are bigger, others smaller – ideal houses
for hiding and browsing. Because the love of books cannot be encour-
Axonometrie • Axonometry aged too early, especially in the digital age!
AIT 1/2.2018 • 085
