Last month a new bookstore called the ZhongShuGe bookstore opened in Shenzhen.
This is by no means an ordinary-looking bookstore.
The ZhongShuGe (literal translation: Zhong=Bell; Shu=Book; Ge=Court) bookstore chain started in 2013 in Shanghai and the Shenzhen store is the 32nd store in China, but I could only find articles about 12 on the internet - all of them as impressive as the Shenzhen store, but each one with its own characteristics.
The architect for this bookstore (and most likely all the others) is the Shanghai-based X+Living architect firm. They are not your normal architects. Do yourself the favour to check out some of the projects on their website. The list of local and international awards they have won is just as impressive.
Back to the Shenzhen bookstore. It contains about 45,000 books and is located in OH Bay. From the outside, it has high glass windows all covered with words.
The main hall contains a swirling spiral that stretches from the door all the way to the coffee shop sitting area. According to the article I found about the opening ceremony, it symbolises the history ladder that spirals through the city. The gears of the spiral are like the gears of a watch, emphasising that time is just a fleeting moment.
The store consists of three distinctly different sections, and each has its own theme. The second section is in the form of a maze (and I did feel a bit lost at one time), and the third is the Children's area which consists of a large play- and reading area. The whole bookstore has black reflective floors and dark mirrored ceilings, which is so reflective that you do not really know what is real and what is not.
To really appreciate the detail, I have created a small gallery of thumbnails below. Click on a thumbnail to see a large version of each photo.
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