Text description provided by the architects. Located in Aranya resort in Qinhuangdao, OWSPACE is a seaside bookstore of 590m. Design contents include facade renovation, interior and landscape design.
The inspiration for spatial design originated from “loneliness”. Being alone by the sea, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life, the feeling of loneliness is suddenly magnified.Unlike traditional bookstore design, the designer attempts to create a space which allows different levels of interaction based on individuals' needs. As the original concrete frame structure remains unchanged, dark gray wooden “boxes” of different functions are inserted into the building. These boxes of different shapes and sizes give the originally monotonic space a richer way of extension, allowing readers to explore the space with interest as walking around. These boxes give people the opportunity to seek solitude and quietness, also offer the possibility of encountering the others.
The walls of the entrance area are made of cast-in-place concrete, the natural and primitive texture of which gives people a sense of warmth. The concrete walls and plants create a transitional space that blocks out all the disturbances from the outside, allowing the readers to shift naturally into a calm and peaceful mood when passing through this area to get inside the bookstore.
In terms of material application, the designer retained the rough concrete texture of the original building, combined with dark gray wood, steel and terrazzo, which creates a sense of coolness for the seaside bookstore.
The project is not merely about designing a bookstore, it is creating a ambience in which public space and private space are deconstructed and placed in the same field, seeking to explore of the new definition of thinking and communication in a fast-paced times.
