Shanghai and Bangkok-based architecture firm HAS design and research has completed a bookstore that takes inspiration from “the specific topography of the mountains” of the city to translate various senses of scale in the interiors. 

The project, named The Glade Bookstore, is located in Chongqing, China, was envisioned as a cultural brand, as well as a compound bookstore providing a new lifestyle.

The interiors consist of a bookstore, coffee, afternoon tea, restaurant, bar, cultural and become a place for creative industries, and irregular exhibitions. 

While the books become the main elements of the space, they are wrapped by translucent glass to provide “a quiet and restful place” and to avoid the busy life of Chongqing.

The 1,360-square-metre bookstore, situated in the center of Chongqing, takes cues from the work ofthe mountain city of Chongqing painted by a well-known Chinese ink painter Guanzhong Wu. The architects were inspired by Wu’s “the mountain city” that makes feel the specific topography of the mountains and various senses of scale.