Retail temple

Located in a downtown development near the ancient Daci Temple, Fangsuo Bookstore balances modern luxury with ancient inspiration. Thirty-seven nine-metre-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 Big Picture: The Chinese luxury consumer is growing in sophistication, not only in established markets such as Beijing and Shanghai, but also in regional centres. For more, see our New Emerging Affluents macrotrend.