Travel

An aesthetically pleasing bookshop in Beijing has tunnels to secret reading nooks


So many cosy spots to settle into (Picture: Splash)

A new shop in Beijing will make book lovers weak at the knees.

The Zhongshuge bookstore – which has recently opened inside the city’s Lafayette department store – features tunnels and hidden reading nooks.

Designed by architecture firm X+Living, the building is inspired by traditional Chinese gardens.

The unique space includes walls of books and round walkways, which pay homage to ‘moon gates’ – circular openings often built in Chinese gardens. 

It features circular tunnels (Picture: SplashNews.com)
The creative and cultural room is inspired by bamboo (Picture: SplashNews.com)

But nods to the country’s culture do not stop there – the cafe design pays tribute to the gathering in the famous Chinese painting ‘Qu Shui Liu Shang.’

Likewise, the creative and cultural room is inspired by bamboo forests. 

For little ones, there’s a whimsical children’s library which incorporates cartoon-style decor.

The design reflects different elements of Chinese culture (Picture: SplashNews.com)
The Moon Gate-inspired arches (Picture: SplashNews.com)

Coming in at 1,110 square-metres (11,948 square ft), the venue is large but not enormous – however the mirror ceilings and reflective doors make the space feel a lot bigger.

Guests looking to unwind with a book can set themselves up in one of the bookshop’s numerous nooks and crannies, while others can lose themselves in the floor’s eye-catching world map design.

What more could you ask for?(Picture: SplashNews.com)

A representative of X+Living told Lonely Planet: ‘All of the bookstores that we designed are inspired by local culture. 

‘The classical gardens and the reading space collided from three different perspectives, I think that’s what makes it different from traditional bookstores. 

‘We connect various functional areas with different formats of space layout. Visitors will get more interested and more curious in spaces like this and feel more connected.’

This is the second Zhongshuge bookshop from X+Living – the first opened last year in Chongqing.

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