Inspired by poetry and full of culture, Zhongshuge offers a sense of familiarity to visitors

Du Fu, one of China’s greatest poets who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), left fond memories of his life in Chengdu, leaving enough poems to preserve the city’s culture of leisure and elegance, and influencing the architecture of Zhongshuge more than a millennia after his life.

Located in the Yintai Centre in Chengdu’s Tianfu Avenue, with wooden flooring underlying the space, the bookstore is a space full of “bamboo shaped book shelves” made of timber, lending a vibrant feel to the air and giving visitors a sense of familiarity, whether they are visiting it for the first time or regular customers.

The children’s area, a jungle-like paradise for youngsters, boasts wooden shelves under big mushrooms, and at the end is the lecture hall.

Constructed of timber and with arbitrary lines forming scattered ladders with various heights for sitting and walking, the lecture hall is ideal for either lectures or thought-provoking dramas. Overhead, the mirrored ceiling reflects the stairs, with many fondly calling the reflection of the lecture hall “terraced fields”.

 

Architects: Li Xiang
Location: Chengdu, China
Year of completion: 2017
Photo credits: Shao Feng