Page 81 - AIT0921_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Atelier Tao+C, CN-Shanghai
Bauherr • Client Common Reader Bookstore
Standort • Location CN-Hangzhou
Nutzfläche • Floor space 330 m 2
Fotos • Photos Wen Studio, CN-Hangzhou
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 142

BOOKSTORE

IN HANGZHOU

One can actually hear the “silence” – the whispering,
turning of the pages, leisured steps. Typical of a library,
unusual for a bookstore … and yet so customer-oriented!
The store design by Tao Liu and Chunyan Cai on the
ground floor of a shopping centre not only differs visu-
ally from the surrounding shops. Independent retail with
a pure intention: bibliophilia before commerce.

T he concept? Read! This is because the term not only refers to
books but also to the process of reading. The inspiration for this
came from the client herself; already during the first telephone call with
Atelier Tao+C. Common Reader – after Virginia Woolf’s book of the same
name – is what the store measuring more than 300 square metres was
to be called. Here one may, or rather should, browse. Shelves, tables,
benches, chairs and parquet consisting of consistently dark cherry
Konzeptvisualisierung • Concept visualization Konzeptvisualisierung • Concept visualization wood; supports, velvet curtains, reading lamps in diverse shades of
green; a variety of stone floor rich in nuances. Particularly due to its co-
lours and materials, the nostalgic ambience reminds of the old libraries
of the occident. This is not a blueprint, however, as in the case of the
nearby replica of the Eiffel Tower – whose construction, detached from
the original context, in no way expresses an understanding of architec-
ture but at most an understanding of building – since the young team of
planners knows how to invoke and to newly interpret. The design in-
cluding the furnishing is by Atelier Tao+C. At each end of the L-shaped
bookstore is an entrance or exit accessible from both sides. And yet one
tends to circulate. Positioned in the centre of the room, display tables
have the new releases ready – the pieces of furniture at hip height allow
a good (over)view and, with their room-high metal supports, define a
stringent guidance system through the open floor plan. In the wall area,
groups of shelves as well curtains and the spines of books with their
“fluting” emphasize the vertical line and reduce the depth effect of the,
admittedly, very corridor-like sequence of rooms. Reading- and learning
niches arranged in a row and integrated in the bookshelves produce in-
teresting visual relationships due to their sequence of framed recesses.
The drawn curtains as a soft spatial border make the dominating intro-
version more concrete – more intensely even than the closed walls. It is
surprising how unimpeded reading and selling run parallel here and
how naturally customers become visitors. To conclude with the words
by the English writer Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), better known under
Grundriss • Floor plan her pseudonym, George Eliot: “Don´t judge a book by its cover.”

AIT 9.2021 • 081