Huai'an Zhongshuge
Project location:Jiangsu
Completion time:2023.8
Project area:810㎡
Chief designer:Li Xiang
Technical director:Wu Feng
Project directors:Cui Zehuan

The completion of the Zhongshuge bookstore in Huai'an is like tearing open a portal through time and space amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. Breaking through the repetitiveness and mundanity of reinforced concrete of normal buildings, the designer utilized exaggerated three-dimensional forms to recreate intricate astronomical instruments on a grand scale, conjuring a celestial spectacle of concentric rings within the confines of the interior - a wormhole into dreams, a Milky Way to the mind, constructing a vast, expansive cosmic reverie.

As if slowly rising from a sea of stars, the bookshelves like astronomical instruments emit a wondrous gravity, ambient lights scattering illusory luminance. The black woodgrain bookshelf walls and refined marble textures collaboratively sketch out a boundless outer space, where irregular structures are arranged sporadically, seemingly adhering to rules governing celestial motions, forming precise, gargantuan mechanical parts.

Miniaturized individuals wander within the instruments, tons of scattered books containing infinite worlds, glimpsing the mysteries of the cosmos. From antiquity to the present, humanity's exploration of outer space has never ceased - from the armillary sphere to space rockets, from stargazing to traversing the void, with books witnessing it all. Bookshelves in various shapes form planets of different sizes, brimming with different literary categories. In the fantastical hyper-real space, others' and one's own memories can be found in every book in our hands, freely pursuing the past and future amidst the vast expanse.

The mysterious, gargantuan constructions presented through traditional wooden materials, juxtaposed against the broad skies beyond glass windows, form a surreal space of incredible scale. Touching the wooden textures brings tactile delicacy, while the exaggerated structures visually astound - a clash of antiquity and futurism, a dialogue across time. Mirrored ceilings infinitely extend space, transporting one into a hypersurreal realm like the four-dimensional space in an interstellar odyssey. Throughout the dual-layered spatial planning, meticulous design balance and precise structural layout are embodied, with gigantic celestial bodies spanning both floors, serving as necessary routes between levels and expressing continuity in spatial structure.

Through glass façades, the boundary between interior and exterior is broken. In the bustling commercial complex, a colossal celestial apparatus descends from the heavens, just like a fantastical surrealism invading the mundane everyday life and permeating the scarcely distinguishable urban landscape. Those inside and outside the buildings are interconnected.

The architectural space is like an extension of dreamlike reality, a spiritual revelation suspended in midair over the city - amidst the vast and boundless interstellar, individual vexations are as minute as specks of dust. Perhaps within books, one can truly enter the pure inner cosmic universe.

Huai'an Zhongshuge
Project location:Jiangsu
Completion time:2023.8
Project area:810㎡
Chief designer:Li Xiang
Technical director:Wu Feng
Project directors:Cui Zehuan

The completion of the Zhongshuge bookstore in Huai'an is like tearing open a portal through time and space amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. Breaking through the repetitiveness and mundanity of reinforced concrete of normal buildings, the designer utilized exaggerated three-dimensional forms to recreate intricate astronomical instruments on a grand scale, conjuring a celestial spectacle of concentric rings within the confines of the interior - a wormhole into dreams, a Milky Way to the mind, constructing a vast, expansive cosmic reverie.

As if slowly rising from a sea of stars, the bookshelves like astronomical instruments emit a wondrous gravity, ambient lights scattering illusory luminance. The black woodgrain bookshelf walls and refined marble textures collaboratively sketch out a boundless outer space, where irregular structures are arranged sporadically, seemingly adhering to rules governing celestial motions, forming precise, gargantuan mechanical parts.

Miniaturized individuals wander within the instruments, tons of scattered books containing infinite worlds, glimpsing the mysteries of the cosmos. From antiquity to the present, humanity's exploration of outer space has never ceased - from the armillary sphere to space rockets, from stargazing to traversing the void, with books witnessing it all. Bookshelves in various shapes form planets of different sizes, brimming with different literary categories. In the fantastical hyper-real space, others' and one's own memories can be found in every book in our hands, freely pursuing the past and future amidst the vast expanse.

The mysterious, gargantuan constructions presented through traditional wooden materials, juxtaposed against the broad skies beyond glass windows, form a surreal space of incredible scale. Touching the wooden textures brings tactile delicacy, while the exaggerated structures visually astound - a clash of antiquity and futurism, a dialogue across time. Mirrored ceilings infinitely extend space, transporting one into a hypersurreal realm like the four-dimensional space in an interstellar odyssey. Throughout the dual-layered spatial planning, meticulous design balance and precise structural layout are embodied, with gigantic celestial bodies spanning both floors, serving as necessary routes between levels and expressing continuity in spatial structure.

Through glass façades, the boundary between interior and exterior is broken. In the bustling commercial complex, a colossal celestial apparatus descends from the heavens, just like a fantastical surrealism invading the mundane everyday life and permeating the scarcely distinguishable urban landscape. Those inside and outside the buildings are interconnected.

The architectural space is like an extension of dreamlike reality, a spiritual revelation suspended in midair over the city - amidst the vast and boundless interstellar, individual vexations are as minute as specks of dust. Perhaps within books, one can truly enter the pure inner cosmic universe.