Tangshan Mine Bookstore of Librairie Avant-grade

It was once the location of Longquan Quarry, the largest abandoned mine in Tangshan. After the overall ecological restoration and landscape reconstruction, it has been reborn as an open theme park integrating viewing experience and recreation.

Librairie Avant-grade is an important cultural card for Nanjing and the country as a whole. The project was driven and challenged by the need to create a harmonious symbiosis between the old and the new, and to create a commercially adaptable cultural experience space for the identified bookstore business while incorporating the characteristics of the site and respecting the landscape of the site.

In order to deal with the complex site situation, the overall strategy of the design is to extract the prototype of the double barrel of the brick kiln as well as transform the vertical form into a horizontal form and the barrel into an arch.

Firstly, we excavated and repaired the slope of the hill on the site. The difference in height of the site enriches the spatial hierarchy in the vertical orientation of the building. he partial roof on the ground floor links the front square, the grassy slope to the north, and the hill lawn behind it into a whole, where the building, the landscape, and the hill are integrated into each other.

The new building intervenes horizontally, using the 'arch' form to establish a typological link with the originally isolated brick kiln, and collating the old and new buildings into a layered whole through the isomorphism of design elements, thus forming a balanced and complete visual composition.

In the design, we have tried to reduce the materiality and ornamentation of the books and to emphasize their authenticity and subjectivity, thus 'shaping a poetic reading space with a pioneering spiritual orientation'. The bookstore consists of three arched cylinders, which are interconnected on the ground floor.

In terms of space, the bookstore combines a cultural space (reading space) with a spiritual space. On the one hand, the bookshelves within the 'cultural space' are set within easy reach according to the human scale, providing convenience for readers to select and read. On the other hand, the large concrete arches and skylights in the vertical direction create a tall and striking 'spiritual space', which transcends a single function and tries to create a balance and resonance between the material and the spiritual.

The ceiling and corridor balustrade is made of black brushed wire panels, while the large step balustrade and the café bar and corresponding staircase balustrade are integrated into the form of black lacquered steel panels. The combination of black steel, plain concrete, and red brick makes for a deep and impactful space.

In retrospect, reading, space, and the touch of light are intertwined, and the cultural space is reshaped in a spiritual way, which is perhaps the architectural externalization of Librairie Avant-grade's pursuit of spiritual sublime beauty.