Shanghai Zhongshuge Thames Town Store(PhaseⅠ)
Project location:Shanghai
Completion time:2013
Project area:600㎡
Chief designer:Li Xiang

Zhongshuge is called the most beautiful bookstore in China.

The Thames British Town is one of the most famous scene for wedding photography in Shanghai. But, such a British town is more awkwardly like a delicate scenery, as its many spaces are not filled with attractive contents.

However, the interesting thing is that when many bookstores close down, the owner of Zhongshuge choose an opposite way and trying to establish the most beautiful bookstore in the Thames Town to recall the nice memory and flowery age of reading.

Zhongshuge located in a corner of the Thames Town, covering an area of 600 square meters with two different design style floors. At the first floor, designers aim not only to find the lost memory of reading in a standing posture, but also to create an experience of being wrapped by books while reading in leisure and pleasure to making readers feel in a private room.

The main space on the first floor of Zhongshuge is divided into nine rooms by bookshelves. Each study is designed into different themes with different book category. The study is a place for reading, tea tasting, drinking, chatting, or thinking rather than a simple reading place.
These nine study rooms form the maze of books, while guidance is the knowledge that can clear people's hearts.

Staircase connecting the upper and the lower floors is rebuilt into the gate, lobby, or even the palace hall of the store. Sunshine spattering from the ceiling of the simple church gives a respective praise to the books and the wisdom hidden therein. Books are displayed at two sides, floors and even staircase.

The centre of the second floor is pure white, it is also the temple of books. In the mirror ceiling, bookshelf ascending in an arc path joins to the real image on the other face of the virtual image to compose a whole temple. After climbing from the staircase made of piled books onto the temple, readers may take a deep breath and sitting on the floor. They may be surprised, but more pleased as the books like floating in air are in touch. Reading here is not only literal chase but interior interaction. When immersing in the sea of knowledge, readers will find reading is essential to daily life. As a medium, books provide an approach for you to recognize the lost soul to see the heaven.

Back to the corner of street, designers wrap the attractive European vertical plane with a layer of glass. There are masterpieces paragraphs of over twenty languages, including mathematic formula, physical equation, chemical formula, famous building, music, astronomy and other knowledge. That is a declaration actually, claiming Zhongshuge as the proud culture symbol of this commercial town.

The humanistic Zhongshuge is a peaceful garden in the human society. By displaying the entity and spirit of books through delicate designs, the designer redefines bookstore, street corner, as well as the life here. Since 2013, the Thames Town with Zhongshuge is no longer scenery only.

Shanghai Zhongshuge Thames Town Store(PhaseⅠ)
Project location:Shanghai
Completion time:2013
Project area:600㎡
Chief designer:Li Xiang

Zhongshuge is called the most beautiful bookstore in China.

The Thames British Town is one of the most famous scene for wedding photography in Shanghai. But, such a British town is more awkwardly like a delicate scenery, as its many spaces are not filled with attractive contents.

However, the interesting thing is that when many bookstores close down, the owner of Zhongshuge choose an opposite way and trying to establish the most beautiful bookstore in the Thames Town to recall the nice memory and flowery age of reading.

Zhongshuge located in a corner of the Thames Town, covering an area of 600 square meters with two different design style floors. At the first floor, designers aim not only to find the lost memory of reading in a standing posture, but also to create an experience of being wrapped by books while reading in leisure and pleasure to making readers feel in a private room.

The main space on the first floor of Zhongshuge is divided into nine rooms by bookshelves. Each study is designed into different themes with different book category. The study is a place for reading, tea tasting, drinking, chatting, or thinking rather than a simple reading place.
These nine study rooms form the maze of books, while guidance is the knowledge that can clear people's hearts.

Staircase connecting the upper and the lower floors is rebuilt into the gate, lobby, or even the palace hall of the store. Sunshine spattering from the ceiling of the simple church gives a respective praise to the books and the wisdom hidden therein. Books are displayed at two sides, floors and even staircase.

The centre of the second floor is pure white, it is also the temple of books. In the mirror ceiling, bookshelf ascending in an arc path joins to the real image on the other face of the virtual image to compose a whole temple. After climbing from the staircase made of piled books onto the temple, readers may take a deep breath and sitting on the floor. They may be surprised, but more pleased as the books like floating in air are in touch. Reading here is not only literal chase but interior interaction. When immersing in the sea of knowledge, readers will find reading is essential to daily life. As a medium, books provide an approach for you to recognize the lost soul to see the heaven.

Back to the corner of street, designers wrap the attractive European vertical plane with a layer of glass. There are masterpieces paragraphs of over twenty languages, including mathematic formula, physical equation, chemical formula, famous building, music, astronomy and other knowledge. That is a declaration actually, claiming Zhongshuge as the proud culture symbol of this commercial town.

The humanistic Zhongshuge is a peaceful garden in the human society. By displaying the entity and spirit of books through delicate designs, the designer redefines bookstore, street corner, as well as the life here. Since 2013, the Thames Town with Zhongshuge is no longer scenery only.