Shoppers enter a fantasy world at the trippy Chongqing Zhongshuge Bookstore in China, X+Living creative director Li Xiang’s eighth project for the client. Photography by Wison Tungthunya/W Workspace.
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.
A 45-ton custom steel shelving system conforms to the domed interior and accommodates 1,000 volumes of international poetry, the now-bookstore’s specialty. Photography by CreatAR Images.
The six story library was designed in 2017 bySasaki Associateswith an open air central atrium; for the new skylight, rather than use glass, FGP Atelier chose a single layer membrane of ETFE, the first known use of the lightweight yet durable material in Mexico. Photography courtesy of FGP Atelier.
For this library in Kumamoto, Japan, Kazunobu Nakamura conceived a system of curved shelves to evoke the Kikuchi River, which runs through the city, located on the island of Kyushu. Photography by Atsushi Ishida.
It was Qatar’s Dahl Al Misfir, a wondrous cave of gypsum crystals, that provided inspiration for the shops—one for children, another for adults, together totaling 1,195 square feet. Photography by Tom Ferguson.
