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Chinese architectural studio “XL-muse” designed a creative bookstore that looks like a small urban city of books. The white striped floor looks like a long pedestrian crossing and the unusual installations on the walls around the bookstore make you feel like you are wandering through the streets of Shanghai with good music and secret dreams.
The bookstore is located in the shopping center Reel in Shanghai. Although it looks like an urban street, it’s neatly organized and the atmosphere is soothing and harmonious, creating a quiet intimate space where you can lose yourself for hours absorbed in thousands of books.
The space is harmonious with minimalist interior. The bookstore is divided into lighter section with street lights by large flashing ads and white exhibition stands, huge darker and more personal corridor covered with books from the ceiling to the floor, that gives you a feeling that you are strolling along a river quay lit by old lampposts, which in turn leads to a cafe in industrial style where you can enjoy a good cup of coffee, hot tea and newly purchased book. The spaces spill spontaneously into each other, imitating an urban exploration where one turn around the corner can take you into a quarter with a very different spirit and into a new, unexpected and pleasant surprise.
Visually and aesthetically, the space has a magnetic appeal and you’ll have no choice but to dive into this peculiar literary and design world and a new place for enjoying a good book.
(Photo Credits: Shao Feng)
