Header: SFAP
The concrete sprawl of Huai’an, China, has been interrupted by something that feels like a tear in the fabric of reality. The Huai’an Zhongshuge bookstore, designed by the imaginative team at X+Living, does away with the predictable rows of shelving found in high-street shops. Instead, it invites visitors to step inside a massive, mechanical representation of the cosmos. It is an architectural dreamscape that treats literature not just as products on a shelf, but as the fuel for a journey through time and space.
Mechanical wonders and galactic rings
Upon entering the 810-square-metre space, the immediate sensation is one of being shrunk. Chief designer Li Xiang has filled the interior with giant, three-dimensional structures resembling ancient astronomical tools. Massive concentric rings hang and twist through the air, mimicking the armillary spheres used by early astronomers to map the heavens. These are the heart of the building’s layout and just decorative flourishes.
The shelves are built into these gargantuan mechanical parts, finished in dark woodgrain that feels solid and ancient. This choice of material creates a strange, beautiful tension – the shapes look like they belong on a futuristic space station, but the tactile, delicate wooden texture keeps the experience grounded in the traditional world of physical books.
Navigating the infinite mirror
One of the most clever tricks in the designer’s bag is the use of mirrored ceilings. By reflecting the complex, circular shapes of the bookshelves, the room appears to stretch upwards forever. It mimics the “four-dimensional space” often seen in science fiction films, making the two-storey shop feel like a boundless void.
The floor is a sea of refined marble, polished to catch the light scattered from hidden lamps. This “illusory luminance” makes the irregular structures look as though they are floating in the dark. As people move between the levels, they walk through the heart of these celestial bodies, which act as the physical pathways connecting the ground floor to the upper level. Every step is a literal move through a curated universe where different genres of writing are grouped into their own distinct “planets.”
Where the city meets the cosmos
The shop doesn’t hide away from the world outside. Large glass facades allow the bustling commercial district of Jiangsu to peer in, and for those inside to look out. This transparency creates a sharp contrast: the grey, repetitive urban landscape of the city sits right next to this “colossal celestial apparatus.” It looks as if a piece of a dream has landed in the middle of a shopping centre.
Inside, the atmosphere is intentionally quiet and reflective. The design team wanted to suggest that “individual vexations are as minute as specks of dust” when compared to the vastness of the stars. By surrounding readers with symbols of humanity’s long history of stargazing, from ancient tools to modern rockets, the space turns the act of reading into an act of exploration.
A journey through the inner universe
The Zhongshuge project is a bold piece of storytelling through architecture. It rejects the idea that a bookstore should be a simple, quiet room. Instead, it uses scale and light to create a “fantastical hyper-real space” where the past and the future can be felt at the same time. It is a reminder that while the world outside continues its frantic pace, there is always a way to step into a quieter, more expansive world of the mind.
Project info
Project Name: Huai’an Zhongshuge bookstore
Project Location: Jiangsu, China
Design Company: X+Living
Chief Designer: Li Xiang
Technical Director: Wu Feng
Project Director: Cui Zehuan
Designer: Zhang Zhiyu, Xu Jingru
Completion Year: 2023
Photographer: SFAP
