August 2, 2019

Text: Jesse Dorris

Panorama Design Group Creates a Playful Kids Bookshop in Chengdu

At the shop front of the Kids Winshare bookstore in Chengdu, glass-walled reading nooks are brightened courtesy of a yellow film. Photography by Ng Siu Fung.

Reading might be fundamental, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun. The Kids Winshare bookstore in China’s Sichuan province capital city of Chengdu is no dusty maze of books. Instead, courtesy of Panorama Design Group, the shop is an inviting radius of circular zones orbiting around an engineering marvel of a central dome.

“The inspiration draws from Joan Miro’s magical painting,” says Panorama’s founder and design director Horace Pan. “We have created organic shapes and forms, basically circles, as a new kind of kids’ space.”

The domed theater of the Kids Winshare bookstore in Chengdu can be configured for parties and events, thanks to custom tables and chairs. Photography by Ng Siu Fung.

The 13,000-square-foot area is divided into an open-plan “bookscape” with undulating custom shelving, reading pods, and a shop front, plus a swarm of blue-and-yellow classrooms and a restaurant. All of this surrounds a steel multimedia theater, surfaced in laminated wood.

“This is a perfect dome with a half-sphere sandwiched between four columns. We had to do a detailed calculation of the span proportion of the 360-degree projection and acoustic control,” Pan says, proving that Miro and math make excellent partners.

Keep scrolling for additional project images >

The ceilings of the multifunctional classrooms at Kids Winshare in Chengdu are semi-gloss stainless steel. Photography by Ng siu Fung.
Blue archways in Chengdu’s Kids Winshare bookstore lead to a baking classroom with butter-yellow walls and custom furnishings. Photography by Ng Siu Fung.
Vinyl floors and custom banquettes, tables, and chairs furnish the “family restaurant.” Photography by Ng Siu Fung.
The theater in the Kids Winshare bookstore features a dome capable of 360-degree projections, allowing for both play-time and educational experiences. Photography by Ng Siu Fung.

Read more: Wutopia Lab Creates a Readers’ Paradise in Xi’an, China

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