Located on the 4th floor of the Réel mall in the Jing’an district of Shanghai in China, this bookstore by X+living aims to reference the busy city outside while transforming it into a calm, quiet and relaxing space. A glass curtain wall with subtitles of Zhongshuge welcomes the visitors where it is dimly visible that the clean and neat white and grade colors fade softly into each other harmoniously

As the visitor makes his way into the store, he will find out that X+living wants to tell a story related to zebra crossing, an activity common to the city. The plain concrete represents the color of the city road while white book tables stand still on the road in an orderly manner. On the floor, painted white zebra crossings link the tables, which give clear guidance to the path between them.

The wall has been fully covered in white circular tubes, each one with the ability to retract, creating a bookshelf. Its design also reflects the quick change in social status quo; here, readers enter into a city space where there is no heavy traffic, but only quiet roads, zebra crossings, and mountains of books.

A long corridor connects the space with an area for leisure reading, where there is a long row of park benches. The bookshelves are placed at the two sides of the corridor. Following this path, visitors will arrive to four book structures that give the feeling of walking around a city of books, complete with houses.

Inside these houses there are selected libraries with different themes like culture and art. Contrasting with the outside bustling streets, this place is a spiritual world where readers can communicate with authors quietly through the books.

Design: X+living
Design director: Li Xiang
Design team: Liu Huan, Fan Chen, Tong Ni-Na
Photography: Shao Feng

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/xl-muse-zhongshuge-bookstore-shanghai-reel-mall-08-31-2016/