Bookstores enter renaissance period

[Photo: from VCG]

Light Space hopes to prove a bright idea to lure readers into bookstores.

The newly opened Xinhua Bookstore branch in Shanghai was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, who is known for his use of light and shadow.

Indeed, light illuminates structures, and reading brightens people's minds.

Ando, 77, winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize, often called the "Nobel of architecture", employs his other signature style elements in Light Space, including the use of raw concrete and egg-shaped structures.

Another concept is the theme of "encounter", which is demonstrated by the bookshelves, which are hallowed out in the center so readers see one another through them.

"I hope the space will increase people's encounters with one another and with the books," Ando said in a visit to the construction site in 2016. 

[The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI] 

(News source: China Daily)