Zhongshuge Shenzhen by X+Living

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Li Xiang and her Shanghai office known as X+Living have realized a dozen shops all over China for the Zhongshuge bookstore chain, creating a countermodel to online giants such as Amazon and Alibaba. Entering the shops is like opening a good novel: shoppers dive into another world that can be magical or alienating. At any rate, it makes them forget all about time and space.

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The shelving rises and curves into grottos, vaults and tunnels full of books. Often, reflective walls and ceilings extend the space to infinity.

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The Shenzhen branch of Zhongshuge measures 1300 m² and is divided into three parts: the large, open Concept Area, which lies behind large display windows on the street corner; a more intimate Forum Area, whose design oscillates between a salon and Expressionist church vault; and a children’s area with a colourful ambience. The Forum Area − nomen est omen − includes a small presentation room.

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The real eye-catcher at the latest Zhongshuge is unquestionably the large, spiral installation in the Concept Area. This is probably easiest to understand as a recumbent spiral staircase whose steps serve as shelves filled with books. As a source of inspiration for this construction, Li Xiang cites Anish Kapoor’s Memory installation: a sort of enormous rugby ball of Corten steel created by the artist in 2008 for the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. However, the parallels to the colourful, somewhat Harry Potter-esque spiral of books in Shenzhen are quite abstract.

© SFAP

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Li’s explanation of the spiral shape is a bit clearer: it symbolizes the progression and passage of time, concepts which are perceptible in the Shenzhen region, which has grown from a small city of 60 000 to a business metropolis of 17.5 million in just four decades.