March 18, 2021

Wutopia Lab Redefines the Office Library With Nautical and Taoist Twists

A person walks through the library in Vipshop’s Guangzhou Headquarters
At the staff library in the Guangzhou, China, headquarters of Vipshop by Wutopia Lab, rounded and arched apertures in the children’s area are nautically inspired to reference the city’s seafaring merchant history. Photography by Creatar Images.

China’s technology boom of the past two decades incubated a number of e-commerce giants. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in the historic trade port of Guangzhou, vip.com’s pioneering of flash sales coupled with its wide product range have propelled it to the forefront of online Chinese retailers. Parent company Vipshop’s new 31-story headquarters by German architect GMP is on Pazhou, an island in Guangzhou that overlooks the Pearl River. The 18th floor includes a double-height wraparound atrium, which is where Vipshop executives wanted to locate a staff library and events space. To stock the shelves with some 42,000 books, magazines, and other periodicals, the company collaborated with Zhongshu Bookstore, which has a much-published all-white branch in Xi’an designed by Wutopia Lab. Vipshop executives liked the look of that project so much, they hired Wutopia founder and chief architect Ting Yu to envision the company’s 24,000-square-foot library.

An Innovative Library Designed for Vipshop’s Guangzhou Headquarters

The reading lounge is white like a gallery with curved peddle stools
The reading lounge and adjoining magazine section feature a rosette window similar to ones popular in 18th-century Guangzhou architecture, along with ottomans upholstered in padded velvet. Photography by Creatar Images.

Dubbed Satori Harbor in a nod to the clipper ships that plied wares between the city formerly known as Canton and the west, the library affords open, panoramic views of Guangzhou. Yu and his team began by deciding to differentiate the library from the rest of Vipshop’s more traditional office floors. They sought inspiration from the origins of the Chinese library as well as Guangzhou’s merchant past. “Nowadays, most people go to libraries to study for exams or consult materials,” Yu notes. “But, in ancient China, the library was a sacred place. The Buddhist concept of satori, or sudden enlightenment, originates with Zhuangzi, the 4th-century BC philosophy master who wrote the foundation texts of Taoism. It represents the owner’s pursuit of a realm above daily life, but not so high as to be unattainable.”

The futuristic coffee bar is a stainless steel in Vipshop’s Guangzhou Headquarters
The coffee bar is satin-finished stainless steel. Photography by Creatar Images.

Entry to the library leads people through a tunnel off the elevator lobby. Dimly lit corridors and grottolike spaces with oculi became motifs for the rabbit-warren alleys of Guangzhou’s inner city. They contrast with the double-height spaces flooded with natural light. The lower floor contains the more public areas such as the theater, magazine section, reading rooms, lounge areas, coffee bar, and an event space known as the harbor. More intimate spaces such as the rare-book room, conference room, and an orange-carpeted children’s area, for when staffers bring their kids to work, are grouped on the upper floor in a U shape. Long expanses of reading benches are adjacent to the edge of the atrium and overlook the level below.

The facade of Vipshop’s Guangzhou Headquarters
GMP designed the 31-story Vipshop headquarters, where the two-story atrium turned library is on the 18th floor. Photography by Creatar Images.

The event space is dominated by tall stacks of books that resemble the city’s ancient fortifications. In front of them, a stylized white clipper ship features a prow outfitted with steps that can double as seating. A floor-to-ceiling translucent red divider can be drawn to separate the space into two rooms and was designed to resemble the traditional red sails of ships along the Pearl River. “Vipshop’s leadership kept emphasizing that the company originated in Guangzhou’s 13 original hongs, or factories, that made up the foreign commercial district,” Yu explains. “At the time, Canton was the only port open to the outside world. Vipshop feels that it inherited the spirit of those hongs, as it brings goods from abroad into China.”

The library's amenity space includes wide steps that offer seating
The 24,000-square-foot amenity space includes a theater with wide steps that double as seating during screenings or lectures. Photography by Creatar Images.

As Chinese cities and ports have historically been well delineated, Yu created a number of curves and arcs to resemble the dunes and riverbanks that separate the open views of the harbor from the enclosed city elements. Portholes and other circular openings facilitate views from confined rooms to expansive spaces beyond, and vice versa from spacious areas into private rooms. This show-and-tell aspect of the library becomes the trail of breadcrumbs guiding through its maze of corridors, with surprises around every bend. “When you open a square hole, it’s difficult to achieve visual consistency,” Yu notes, as he elaborates on the transformation of corridors into tunnels. “Finally the idea came to distill the shape of the tunnel into a way to open the hole.”

An orange polyester sail pays homage to nautical traditions
The polyester sail in the event space pays homage to noble clipper ships and their association with Guangzhou’s trading past. Photography by Creatar Images.

But, as to be expected, with COVID-19, the project’s execution was challenging. “We couldn’t conduct regular site visits due to the pandemic,” Yu admits. “Much was done remotely and some of the detailing suffered, like the curved openings not being smooth enough.” But Vipshop employees, who are back to work in the office after the spring shutdown, and visitors to the library would never know it.

A bookshelf lined corridor with curved windows
A bookshelf-lined corridor leads to the theater’s arched opening. Photography by Creatar Images.

Drawing on a palette of predominantly white stucco and terrazzo, Yu plays with contrasting volumes and shapes to give the library its Taoist identity. “Zhuangzi’s books explain that Taoism doesn’t require a special place to practice,” he says. “You can realize it in any place, at any time, from nature. I don’t want everyone to understand Taoist philosophy—but some may feel it and that’s good. Some may not feel it. It doesn’t matter. That, in itself, is a kind of Taoist philosophy.”

An oculus window peers into the floor-to-ceiling bookcases
An oculus allows a glimpse to floor-to-ceiling stacks beyond. Photography by Creatar Images.
A hallway with white walls and wood parquet flooring
Flooring is patterned with wood parquet. Photography by Creatar Images.
A gray stucco room serves as a private reading space
A stuccoed grotto serves as a private reading room. Photography by Creatar Images.
A custom wooden table offers space the work or study
The custom wooden table in a lounge area is decorated with acrylic light boxes to represent the cityscape beyond the glazing. Photography by Creatar Images.
The library design features an event space with expansive windows
Integrated light strips illuminate the custom metal stacks along one side of the event space. Photography by Creatar Images.
A conference room overlooks the library lounge area
A conference room looks down on the lounge area. Photography by Creatar Images.
The children's area features orange wool carpet
Wool carpet runs through the children’s area. Photography by Creatar Images.
Screens printed with historic facades from Guangzhou harbor stand beside a stylized stucco clipper ship,
Screens printed with historic facades from Guangzhou harbor stand beside a stylized stucco clipper ship, its prow outfitted with steps for seating. Photography by Creatar Images.

Project Team: Yuchen Guo; Siqi Yang; Beidi Zhan; Shengrui Pu: Wutopia Lab. Product Source: Vitra: Sculptures (Children’s Area).

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