Design Concept for Fresh Air Bookstore

A breath of fresh air in the concrete jungle

Scope of ser­vices：Pro­ject plan、In­te­rior de­sign

Pro­ject aress：China  Baoding

Pro­ject area：350㎡

Pro­ject time：2016

2017 GER­MAN RED DOT AWARD "SPACE CAT­E­GORY BEST OF THE BEST"

2017 BERLIN,GERMANY IN­SIDE AWARD "HIGHLY REC­OM­MENDED AWARD"

2018 GER­MAN IF DE­SIGN AWARD "IN­TE­RIOR AND AR­CHI­TEC­TURAL SPACE DE­SIGN CAT­E­GORY WIN­NER"

2017 AMER­ICA IDEA AWARD "SIL­VER AWARD IN THE EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL DE­SIGN CAT­E­GORY"

2017 SIN­GA­PORE SIDA "SIL­VER AWARD WIN­NER"

2017 ITALY A’DE­SIGN AWARD COM­PE­TI­TION "GOLDEN AWARD WIN­NER"

2018 BRITAIN ASIA PA­CIFIC PROP­ERTY AWARDS "WIN­NER"

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In this world where ethics are degenerating and money worship has become the new religion, is there still anyone who believes in the fairytale? Even the answer is yes, such a person would have been drown out by the chaos of our time. The city is filled by anxious dwellers, with hollow eyes and blank faces. Their defensive and dull expressions reflect their inner cravings, as if they want to grasp something from the pale and thick haze shrouding the city while at the same time want to make a change. The hysterical touting by the merchants echo with the desires and cravings from within your heart. People are made thirsty by their desires. They look around, with the eyes of a hunter searching for his prey, swiftly and nimbly. Even worse, they grasp anything within their reach. Time is pressing and life is too short for one to gobble all the delights. They want to move faster to search for the things that can make them happy. And they do. They become more and more effective in enjoying their lives, only to find that the faster they become, the more anxiety they gain. They are lost in the shadow of the concrete jungle created by their own hands. Although they do all they can with all their energy, their hearts still find nowhere to settle down, and their desires, never can be fulfilled.

What a frustrating and helpless situation? When you calm down, a thin voice speaks to your heart: “Come to me, because I have the love that you’ve been craving all the time. In me your soul can find peace and fulfillment.”

Some of those who still believe in fairytales do cool down their hearts to listen attentively to that thin voice. They pull back their swelling and complacent hearts towards the direction of the voice, which calls them to pursue the opposite way from that taken by the majority of people in this world. Without any clue on where the ending is, they hold the firm belief that they will achieve something at the end of the day, and that the world can be changed little by little. This is how a small bookstore with the belief in idealism is born. They call it Fresh Air Bookstore. They hope that this ideal place can help themselves find the way out in the piles of literature of the human civilization. They search the answer in art, in science, in religion, in history, in philosophy, in literature or in the moments of daily life. They believe that the answer is in the books. Like Don Quijote portrayed by Cervantes who challenged the windmill, they hold the same belief to open the bookstore, like a clear and crisp spring in the desert, like the ray of light piercing through the thick haze, signifying hope.

Fenghemuchen designed a spiritual habitat where people’s hearts can settle down for this utopia. The designers use a simple and intuitive design to express the relationship between the readers and books through space scenes: simple, tranquil, humble and low-profile. With an understanding of each book’s unique character, they arrange each book in a way best suited for its existence. They know that the souls enveloped in the books are the real owner of this bookstore. As long as you are willing to put away your daily worries and step into this place, you will find that this is a bookstore of your own. Fenghemuchen pays tribute to those who are on the way through space design. They want people not only to interact with great thinkers of the past, but also to connect with each other, as if reading each other like a book. Readers club activities, forums and speeches will also be presented at this place where knowledge and wisdom converge.

We have not strayed far away from the thin voice, and the answer for life can never be isolated from the real world. It is deeply rooted in our heart’s craving, flowing in the sea of books, and expressing itself in the everyday life. These people still believe in fairytales and pursue the answer for life, hoping that with love they can change this indifferent world. They call for us to find out the most precious answer for life which has been lost for long, so that it can return to our tired and dry heart. Because the thin voice says: “Knock the door and I will open it for you!”