Aedas designs for Chinese publishing giant Xinhua Bookstore on Chinese proverb ‘Knowledge brings wealth’ | Aedas

Designed by Aedas, Chongqing Xinhua Bookstore Group Jiefangbei Book City Mixed-use Project is a dynamic complex that encompasses a sky cultural plaza, retails, apartments, offices and a boutique hotel in the Jiefangbei Central Business District, the heart of downtown Chongqing. Aedas draws design inspiration from an ancient Chinese prose ‘Knowledge brings wealth’ to integrate book with the cultural elements of Chongqing, creating an interactive commercial complex with Xinhua Bookstore sitting at the core of the podium.

The building unfolds stepping terraces in an elegant form of a rolling book scroll implying the spirit of wisdom and knowledge. The stepped architecture not only reveals the well known geographic beauty of Chongqing which is also named 'Mountain City', but also interacts with the surroundings and rejuvenates the city landscape.  

Three distinctively themed plazas are well connected with the street and green terraces by a grand express escalator. The inclined rooftop and cultural plaza at the podium become a new cultural destination for lifestyle and entertainment activities, while the sky cultural plaza enriches and extends the civic space of Jiefangbei Plaza to provide a refreshing and tranquil environment in this business centre for users to relax and enjoy.

Project: Chongqing Xinhua Bookstore Group Jiefangbei Book City Mixed-use Project
Location: Chongqing, PRC
Architect: Aedas
Client: Chongqing Xinhua Bookstore Group, Chongqing Xinhua Media Ltd., Chongqing North Green Industry Co., Ltd.
Gross floor area: 153,980 square metres
Completion year: 2020
Directors: Andy Wen and Keith Griffiths