Youâd be forgiven for thinking this fantastic world of twists and turns and spirals is something from a Harry Potter film, or maybe inspired by illustrations by M.C Escher. With staircases in the ceiling and shelves in the floor, itâs a positively chaotic site to beholdâŠat first. This is, in fact, a bookstore. Located in Sichuan, China and developed by X+Living architectural studios for a Chinese bookseller Zhongshuge, this is Dujiangyan Zhongshuge. This isnât the first store the studio has designed for the Chinese bookseller, but itâs one of the most unique. Studio founder Li Xiang stated that she drew inspiration for this particular building from the cityâs 2000 year old UNESCO World Heritage river irrigation system and the surrounding mountains, incorporating arched walnut bookcases as a nod to Dujiangyanâs river dams and oval shaped book tables on a black tiled floor to imitate floating boats moored on the water.  She claimed she wanted visitors to feel the same sense of awe in the store as they did in nature, using reflections and optical illusions to make visitors feel âThe big size differenceâ between themselves and the space. Mirrored ceilings create an âopen and high feelingâ while travelling under arches feels like âstepping into the rolling mountainâ, while also sectioning off the space and creating intimate reading and study coves. The bookstore is only two stories (even though the illusion might have you think itâs far more) and is lined with rows upon rows of glowing shelves that seem to trail off into eternity. Thatâs largely due to the mirrored ceiling and highly polished black tiled floor. There are an incredible 80,000 books lined up on those shelves and while it looks a great deal more, only shelves at arm height stock actual books. Above that are shelves lined with photorealistic film that makes it appear that the shelves are fully stocked with brightly coloured spines of stories waiting to be told.
