Archisteem 26: Friendly Architecture Curation - Bringing Greens & Coffee into Bookstore

Today's curated project: Bringing Greens & Coffee into Bookstore

Continuing with my Monday’s World Book Day series for library, I will be choosing some of my favourite book stores and reading related spaces to curate.

This renovation project is led by Archstudio, a local Chinese architect and took place in Beijing, China. The project covered an approximate 293 m² of 2 stories shop unit and was completed in 2015.

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The reason I choose this particular project to curate is that I love bringing greens and coffee into the space, especially a space that I will be spanning long hours to do focused works. These two elements could bring softness and liveliness into the space and reduce the stress within the space. I am sure you could feel the difference when you look at the change of the bookstore, from the old to the new.

What is the first impression when you looked at the change?

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The historical background of the bookstore was originally selling Chinese painting, calligraphy publications, and ancient books. It was built in the 80s which used the government unified construction. Therefore, it is obvious that the space, especially the interior is not built specifically for the bookstore. In addition to that, the monotonous function for the bookstore had lost its attractiveness in this era whereby reading is not about just reading but the overall experience of reading, including the space to enjoy the books, to purchase, and to choose. Thus, the project intended to revitalize the bookstore into a coffee house & bookstore mix space for a diversified experience.

Previously, the bookstore was very opaque and had minimal connection with the exterior surrounding because most of the openings were blocked by bookshelves. In order to revamp such heavy and rigid images, the architect emphasizes transparency and lightness to design the space. This includes the integration into the space functions, human circulation, equipment, furniture, illumination and plants arrangement, all the spaces are designed to be blend in harmoniously with the old and connect with the exterior surrounding.

In terms of space configuration, the architect maximizes all the openings available by creating the circulation and functional space to surround the central island. Therefore, all the spaces will have access to natural daylight and the central zone will have artificial lighting to further illuminate the space. The clever choice of putting the coffee bar and conference room in the center makes the space configuration very efficient. Everyone can access these facilities while enjoying their private moments with books.

The bookshelves design also plays a role whereby it is built with 1m x 1m solid iron bars which can hold books and plants. The reason to have indoor plants is not just about aesthetic but to control the microclimate of the bookstore. The LED light strips for the plants can act as an indirect light source for the readers as well. Plus, fragrant herb plants and ferns are used for the fragrance and minimal maintenance. In overall, the bookstore becomes very porous and breathable after this revamp and I am positive that people will like it!

Will you visit such bookstore if there is one in your neighborhood?

Additional fact - the architectis particularly good in creating such light and simplistic spaces with great aesthetic value.

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Source of images used and reference article. Click here

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Hope you enjoy the curation. If you have any projects that you wished to be curated, do drop a comment to me. Any critics and suggestions about my curation are welcome!

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This is an #archisteem post.

A new tag that is to curate our existing built environment and also future built environment development. Want to know more? Read here.

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Find me at @kimzwarch