{"id":206541,"date":"2023-02-06T13:34:40","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T18:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=206541"},"modified":"2023-02-21T16:33:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T21:33:15","slug":"wutopia-lab-bookstore-design-yancheng-china","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/wutopia-lab-bookstore-design-yancheng-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Wutopia Lab Creates a Whimsical Bookstore in Yancheng, China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A staircase wrapped in micro-cement spirals through the two-story book tower. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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February 6, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Rebecca Lo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>CreatAR Images<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Wutopia Lab Creates a Whimsical Bookstore in Yancheng, China<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Yancheng may well be worth more than its weight in salt. For the past two millennia, the Chinese city\u2019s natural river salt reserves have seasoned Jiangsu province\u2019s many celebrated dishes. In fact, its name literally translates as salt city. North of Shanghai, Yancheng\u2019s development has progressed at a more temperate pace when com\u00adpared with its glamorous neighbor despite a population of over 8 million. But for architects such as Ting Yu, founder and principal of Wutopia Lab, the city offers much room to experiment\u2014and is the perfect place to unleash his creative prowess in experiential retail design at a parent-child branch of Duoyun Bookstore<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, however, Yu was hesitant to take on the 18,300-square-foot project. Recently completing the award-winning Taizhou outpost of Duoyun, he was worried he might be typecast as a bookstore designer. But the city\u2019s potential was one factor in changing his mind. \u201cYancheng has a long history, rich resources, and is developing rapidly,\u201d Yu begins. \u201cBut it\u2019s in need of fresh blood to bring it in line with the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Duoyun Bookstore, a parent-child bookstore in Yancheng, China, by Wutopia Lab, the perforated aluminum enclosing a balcony has a bird cutout that signals the animal theme throughout the project. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Touch of Imagination Brings the Duoyun Bookstore to Life <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another swaying factor was the work of Italian illustrator Cristina L\u00e0strego, whom Yu discovered upon his first meeting with the project\u2019s developer, Jiangsu Spring Blossom Cultural and Creative Town Cultural Tourism Industry Development Co. Over the past four decades, the 82-year-old artist and her partner Francesco Testa have produced more than 170 books for children that have been adapted into films and online media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was deeply impressed by the imagination of L\u00e0strego\u2014her gorgeous scenes are very moving. I felt I could use her works to create a fairy-tale bookstore and retain a sense of innocence to take customers, young and old, back to a pure place in their hearts.\u201d So Duoyun Bookstore, which has six shops through\u00adout China, and Jiangsu Spring Blossom joined forces for the venture, as the latter holds the intellectual property rights for L\u00e0strego characters such as Mir\u00f2 the Cat and her animated films The Creation and The Circus. \u201cMir\u00f2 is famous in Italy but not China, so we had to introduce the animation to Chinese customers through the design,\u201d Yu says. But rather than literal depictions of the characters, he simplified L\u00e0strego\u2019s meticulous details to yield whimsical spaces that play with scale, creating a childlike wonder for visitors of all ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yu initiated his scheme on the exterior of the bookstore, which occupies an existing three-story building near a wetland park, sited so that it captures views of the greenery. Wutopia Lab envisioned the facade as a fantastical maritime landscape with yellow elements recalling the motion of waves and a red structure resembling a ship docked at port. To these, Yu also added a pair of enclosed balconies, their lilac enclosures of perforated-aluminum laser-cut with a pared-down bird or cat shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside, the store consists of a two-story retail area, a caf\u00e9, and a children\u2019s area. The entry is an elongated tunnel of perforated red aluminum that transports customers into a new world. It opens into what\u2019s called the skylight book tower, an octagonal space with a red spiral staircase that leads up to a cupolalike nook. Both levels of the tower are lined with built-in shelves holding thousands of books for adults as well as Duoyun merchandise like stationery and tote bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adjoining the tower is the Cloud Terrace caf\u00e9, a double-height eatery consisting of interlocking circular spaces capped by a ceiling of brushed aluminum. Three lighting systems\u2014round ceiling lights covered in luminous film, concealed LED strips, and LEDs imbedded into troughs\u2014imbue an otherworldly quality. A second spiral staircase extends the caf\u00e9 to the third floor, where there\u2019s a terrace fronted by a perforated white balcony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The animal figures are inspired by those seen in The Creation, an animated film by Cristina L\u00e0strego.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Bookstore Design Invites Guests to Stay Awhile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Oceania Drawing Library<\/a> on the opposite end of the caf\u00e9 is a large open activity space for children that also accommodates workshops and exhibitions. It encompasses four smaller, stand-alone rooms dubbed illustrated book houses that are filled with children\u2019s books. These structures feature different laser-cut entries in the shape of animals adopted from L\u00e0strego\u2019s The Creation. Each one employs different-colored perforated panels while their interiors are uniformly white with built-in benches\u2014tranquil environments to browse books in. A terrace at the end of the second floor is furnished with a red aluminum tent in a nod to one depicted in The Circus; Wutopia\u2019s version has a custom carousel inside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duoyun is a pioneer in China\u2019s retail book arena and leads the trend in combining sales with food and beverage, education, and exhibitions. To gel together the many disparate areas, Yu looked to another children\u2019s literary character: Peter Pan. \u201cAt the end of the story, Wendy can never go back to Neverland, but the tale left a strong impression,\u201d he says. \u201cDuoyun Bookstore is like a Neverland\u2014I hope that its older customers can shed the stress of adulthood and feel pure again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entry is through an abstracted ark of more aluminum panels, painted and laser-cut with curvilinear shapes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A skylight caps the main retail area called the book tower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A staircase wrapped in micro-cement spirals through the two-story book tower. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The tower\u2019s custom built-ins hold thousands of books for adults.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the Oceania Drawing Library, which is the children\u2019s area, a whale-shape cutout is the entry to one of four stand-alone \u201cbook houses\u201d containing children\u2019s books and items. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On the store\u2019s second and third floor is the Cloud Terrace caf\u00e9, its ceiling brushed stainless steel. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A titanium window is laser-cut with a cloud shape. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Floor-to-ceiling plywood shelves surround a built-in leather-covered bench.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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LED strips follow the staircase\u2019s spiral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A 21-foot-high perforated aluminum tent populates a terrace. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Inside the tent is a custom carousel in fiberglass-reinforced concrete. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Flooring throughout the drawing library is terrazzo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The store\u2019s exterior animal cutouts are echoed in the entries to the book houses, the one with the bird leading to a lecture hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Wutopia Lab<\/span><\/a>: shengrui pu; chen lin; jie lv; yanyan feng; zijie xu; chao bian\n<\/span><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n