An underground temple for books in Chengdu
Taiwanese designer Chih-Kang Chu was inspired by the history of Xuanzhang, a famous Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang dynasty; he resided and practiced Buddhism in Daci Temple before he went on a spiritual journey to India. Fangsuo Book Store is located at the underground level of the commercial streets, which surrounds the Daci Temple. Therefore he had a bold idea of creating a modern underground “Sutra Depository”. Sutra depository is a private place to store all kinds of knowledge, such as books, sutras, and letters in ancient China. Many raw materials and techniques were used to resemble the scene of an ancient sutra depository, for example, concrete columns with large cutting surfaces, bookcases in the loft, the bridge and catwalk across the bookcases.
Read more about the thinking behind this marvelous design over on gooood (bilingual).
Via Design China.
Wow! This reminds me of the Librarie Avant-Garde in Nanjing http://transpacifica.net/2007/12/librairie-avant-garde-brilliant-nanjing-bookstore/
@graham – wow! that looks amazing, kind of like the 2007 under-developed version of this one. any idea if it’s still around? 🙂