Architect Chu Chih-Kang has created Fangsuo Bookstore, a retail space selling books and lifestyle goods rooted in a distinctively Chinese luxury sensibility. Chengdu is an emerging first-tier luxury market. The retail space was inspired by Buddhist pilgrimage.
Located in a downtown development near the ancient Daci Temple, Fangsuo Bookstore balances modern luxury with ancient inspiration. Thirty-seven 9-meter-high concrete columns create the impression of a modern temple and support a ceiling of exposed pipes. Appropriately, given the bookstore’s role as a repository of knowledge, the architect drew inspiration from the story of Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist monk who lived in Chengdu and made a religious pilgrimage to India that increased local knowledge of Buddhism. The architect designed the bookstore to be a modern version of the sutra depositories that housed ancient religious texts.
The Chinese luxury consumer is growing in sophistication, not only in established markets such as Beijing and Shanghai, but also in regional centers.
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