Doomsayers have long predicted the death of the bricks and mortar bookstore, but the smart money is on smaller niche boutique boltholes like the Zhongshu Bookstore of Xi’an. Tucked away on the fourth floor of the city’s Xuhong Plaza, the two-level all-white cocoon is a veritable stage-set that’s straight of central casting for a utopic sci-fi flick.
Shanghai-based Wutopia Lab sets the scene with a cuboid, mirror-lined entrance that looks and feels like a cross between a retro dancefloor and Star Trek’s teleporter room. Ribbed archways open out in different directions, spilling visitors into a glossy white space that’s anchored by a glass floor and capped with swirling ceilings that are meant to evoke the dreamscaped Baiyun Villa, or White Cloud Village, from an ancient Chinese tale.
Elliptical bookshelves follow the contours of the ceiling, as do mini-standalone display pods. There are no sharp angles, just curvilineal surfaces that swoop around the store, all the lines leading eventually to a floating staircase – its half-turned form splitting into ribboned steel that spiral upwards towards a skylight.
With so much visual drama at work, almost passing unnoticed is the bookstore’s comprehensive collection of political biographies, bestsellers and vividly coloured volumes for children.§
INFORMATION
Website
ADDRESS
No. 67 Mingguang Road
Weiyang District
Xi'an
-
In BDSM biker romance ‘Pillion’, clothes become a medium for ‘fantasy and fetishism’Costume designer Grace Snell breaks down the leather-heavy wardrobe for the Alexander Skarsgård-starring Pillion, which traces a dom/sub relationship between a shy parking attendant and a biker
-
Tour Aflalo’s first retail space, a gallery-like studio in New YorkLight-filled and elegant, Aflalo has opened its first retail space in a classic Soho loft, reimagined by Nordic Knots Studio
-
This Toronto pizzeria hides a sultry bar with serious biteNorth of Brooklyn unveils a fresh, two-level outpost where crisp, light-filled minimalism gives way to a warmer, neon-lit upstairs area
-
Discover The Connaught’s near 130-year history in its first ever book‘The Connaught’, published by Assouline and written by Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Bill Prince, charts the Mayfair hotel’s extravagant history
-
A discreet bolthole adds historic charm to Chongqing’s skyscraper jumbleWith a landscape bristling with gleaming towers, Sunyata Ren’ai Hall Hotel quietly emerges as the Chinese city’s most design-forward stay
-
Seoul welcomes the world’s first MoMA BookstoreManhattan’s cultural heavyweight opens its first dedicated bookstore – in Seoul, in partnership with Hyundai Card
-
Discover a futuristic bar in Shanghai with mad-scientist energyPenicillin opens in Shanghai with a clinical steel and concrete design by LC Studio alongside trailblazing, sustainable cocktails
-
A colossal ‘ship’ in Shanghai honours Louis Vuitton’s travel legacyLouis Vuitton’s The Louis is an OMA-designed hub combining retail, culture and dining in the heart of Nanjing West Road
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
This arresting new photography book is a visual mediation on daily life in IndonesiaWith his lens, photographer Farid Renais Ghimas explores home, memory and the spaces in between
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
