Silver Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2022
Yulin Ueno Bookstore
by Boundless
- A' Design Award 2022 Silver Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Boundless
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 11,201
- Verification code E035900C62 · Verify this award
About Yulin Ueno Bookstore
Yulin Ueno is a bookstore set within a cultural life community in Huizhou, China. The interior covers nearly 300 square meters and combines books and coffee with areas for reading, talks and leisure. The project reuses an old industrial building. Weathered brick walls are preserved and joined with modern design elements. The former boiler room is converted into a mailbox for letters and postcards. The original sloping walls were corrected and the layout was reorganized. A resin glass roof brings daylight into the reading areas.
Within the evolving landscape of contemporary retail architecture, Wenke Lin's Yulin Ueno Bookstore emerges as a compelling meditation on the relationship between structural expression and contemplative spatial experience, positioning itself within traditions that celebrate the bookstore as cultural sanctuary rather than mere commercial venue, the design demonstrates remarkable formal sophistication through its dramatic ceiling architecture where white-painted steel members cascade in angular trajectories that evoke both natural phenomena such as light rays penetrating forest canopy and constructivist compositional principles, this structural vocabulary transforms what might otherwise serve as prosaic building support into expressive sculptural installation that energizes the interior volume while maintaining visual coherence with the minimal material palette, the chromatic restraint limiting primary surfaces to white, warm blonde wood, and neutral grey establishes a refined backdrop against which the colorful spines of displayed books become the space's chromatic protagonists, demonstrating thoughtful understanding of figure-ground relationships in retail environments, particularly noteworthy is the integration of stepped white platforms that function simultaneously as merchandise display, informal seating, and sculptural composition, their geometric arrangement suggesting influence from minimalist art installation while serving pragmatic programmatic requirements, the generous glazing establishing visual and experiential connection with exterior landscape reflects biophilic design principles increasingly valued in contemporary commercial architecture, acknowledging human psychological need for natural light and vegetative presence, Lin appears to propose that the bookstore might serve as threshold space between the active exterior world and the interior life of reading and reflection, the work invites viewers to consider how architectural intervention shapes not merely functional requirements but the qualitative character of cultural experience itself.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The design team connects the history and the environment with the architecture. With respect to history, the library, from planning to reconstruction to reappearance, is always given a time property that flows in stillness. The symbiotic relationship between people and bookstores is guided by spirit and connected by emotion, which is the focus of Ueno Bookhouse's design. After the original sloping building structure has been corrected, the layout of the space has been reorganized.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- In the library of nearly 300 square meters, coffee and books are the main functional forms. On this basis, knowledge seeking, talks, leisure and other multiple experiences are integrated, striving to create a multi-cultural complex urban space.
- Tags
- Trees, Light and shadow, History, Yagli, Chimney
- Production Technology
- Here, the weather-beaten brick walls are combined with modern design elements. Walk inside, look directly into the past, and read the heart. Here, the boiler room is transformed into a mailbox of time. Every letter and postcard, in the most simple way of communication, is the most sincere and lasting confession in the city.
- Design Challenge
- It took a long time to build the whole bookstore, because many of the materials we used were used for the first time. For example, our acrylic, our space is limited, and there is only 200 square meters upstairs and downstairs. This bookstore is actually more complex than we thought, because the whole old building wall is inclined, so we need to correct it, Therefore, some places feel very crowded and some places feel very loose.
- Project Duration
- End May 16, 2021, Building B4, Yedao cultural life community, huangjiatang, Qiaodong, Huicheng District, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province.
- Operation Flow
- It took half a year for the book house to be conceived and formed. During this period, the manuscript was changed several times, and the materials used for material selection also experienced professional challenges. "For example, the resin glass selected for this roof, whether it is difficult in technology or challenging in material selection, is rare in China."
- Research
- The symbiotic relationship between people and bookstores is guided by spirit and connected by emotion, which is the focus of Ueno Bookhouse's design. After the original sloping building structure has been corrected, the layout of the space has been reorganized, and the action track and emotional appeal of people in the bookstore will be reorganized and presented. In the library of nearly 300 square meters, coffee and books are the main functional forms.
- Inspiration
- Huizhou Wild Island Cultural Life Community is famous for its accumulation of Dongpo Temple, the former site of Yuedong Distillery and the former site of East Lake Hotel. Ueno Book House is located here. It awakens the industrial civilization engraved in the depths of history with the scent of books. Old memories overlap with new stories, and the past and changes of the city, which have been left behind by the passing of time, are preserved, shaped and regenerated.
- Image Credits
- Photographer Yesong, （Ueno Bookstore）, 2021