Wutopia Lab designs bookshop in China to resemble inside of teapot

Smooth curving walls and a spout-like skylight are intended to evoke the inside of a teapot at Ceramic Pages, a bookshop in China by local architecture studio Wutopia Lab.

Ceramic Pages forms part of the wider redevelopment of a former clayware factory in Yixing into a cultural district, for which Kengo Kuma & Associates also recently completed UCCA Clay Museum.

Wutopia Lab's design for the bookshop is informed by the process of sculpting and firing the purple clay teapots once made on the site, with visitors moving from an earthy, purple-toned lobby, through a fiery red cafe and up to a water-themed gallery.

"Our material choices were influenced by themes of pottery, clay, water, and fire," Wutopia Lab founder Yu Ting told Dezeen.

"The ground floor reflects the colour of clay, the first floor embodies the hues of fire, and the second floor represents the colors of water," he added.

Entering between two curved purple walls, the bookshop itself occupies the ground floor, with curving and angular shelves wrapped by smooth white walls.

In an area named "scene in the pot", visitors can stand beneath the spout-like skylight that cuts through the entire building, framed by thin strips of embedded lighting.

"I believe that the most iconic feature in the design is the teapot spout, because Yixing is renowned for its teapots," Ting explained.

"Traditional Chinese scholars have imbued the act of drinking tea with profound life philosophies, even considering the teapot to contain an entire universe," added Ting.

"Thus, we can say that we used the mindset of crafting a teapot to create an interior with the imagery of a teapot – without resorting to a literal teapot design," he added.

Both an external red-steel staircase and an internal stair lead up to the red-toned cafe and gift shop above, which occupies a glazed cylindrical form wrapped by flame-like sections of perforated metal.

On this level, the spaces open out onto an external terrace finished with a flame-patterned floor, which has been oriented to overlook UCCA Clay Museum.

Above, the top floor of Ceramic Pages contains a cylindrical gallery and lounge area. It is finished with glossy floors and a ceiling with rippled cut-outs and reflective areas, intended to evoke water.

Externally, the lower level of the bookshop is wrapped by concrete walls, while the cylindrical volume above is clad with perforated louvres in brown metal.

Elsewhere in China, Trace Architecture Office recently created a bookstore in a historic building in Yunnan, while Atelier Tao+C created one at a ski resort with a timber roof.

Previous projects by Wutopia Lab include the transformation of an industrial site in Shanghai into a cultural space.

The photography is by CreatAR Images.

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