Since its inception, the publishing institute - naïve has set up bookstores in several cities that accommodate books and coffee to intrigue readers' behaviors within its conceptualized space. On a snowfield of Aranya Chongli in northern China, atelier tao+c conceived the new naïve bookstore as a luminous space in the midst of ice and snow, seamlessly integrated with the surrounding landscape, climate and nature. The existing site is a bare concrete space of about 400 sqm with a partially double height ceiling, next to the snow-covered slopes and firtree forest on the south side.
The southern double-height façade was opened up and clad with large wooden framed windows from floor to ceiling, eliciting a new perspective from inside that overlooks a row of dark-tone woods on the white snow slopes, and allowing winter sunlight to permeate into every corner, adding playfulness of light and shadows into the interior throughout a day.
Between the concrete columns of the original building, a new grid of the steel and wood frameworks was placed in and interwoven with the existing structure, building a new spatial sequence without restricted boundaries. The wooden frame was raised accordingly in the double-height area to form a pitched roof with circular openings, reframing views for one’s exploration. There is no partition wall erected in the interior. Corresponding to the changing heights and sunlight, the bookshelves and seats are allocated along the grids to define the circulation and to form the book area, café, and seating area from north to south with a gradually changing ambiance.
The bookshelves, made of fiberglass with rounded edges, are lightweight and translucent and have been fixed to stainless steel brackets. This stands flexibly and floats on the ground to ensure the continuity of the space, while the light gray floor is a terrain that extends towards distant mountains and nearby snow slopes and forests. As the sunlight moves, penetrated, and filtered by the texture of the fiberglass material, softens the hard light, and casts soft shadows, the honey color light oscillates and flows in the space.
Three banquettes in fluid contours combine seats and desks behind to ensure books are within one’s reach. Each piece of furniture is specially designed and tailored by the furniture brand – ziinlife only for the space. Different seating arrangements make both solitude and casual gatherings possible. In the window area, the original beams and columns are left untouched with a white sofa placed around, as if one were sitting on a corridor, feeling closer to the landscape. The light birch and fiberglass complement the snowy landscape, making the previously gray concrete space more exquisite and brighter, like warm mist rising from the snow. Text description by the architects.
