Books are the foundation of a child’s development, and the countryside is a place that cannot be overlooked. Through books, I envision countless mountains and endless horizons. Even a small classroom can encompass the entire world.
In a rural classroom, clouds drift in, mountains rise, and a red sun dawns anew. Light and children gather here, climbing mountain peaks, breaking through seas of clouds, and discovering new worlds.
Focused on supporting the growth of rural children, the Yunqiu Bookstore offers a playful space that blends learning with fun. It represents a fresh approach to rural education, allowing children to immerse themselves in books and engage in entertaining activities that fuel their dreams.
Light: Design as a Beam of Illumination
The renovation took place at Zhangbukou Primary School in Xieji Town, Liangyuan District, Shangqiu City, Henan Province. The goal was to achieve a public welfare space with minimal budget, offering rich activities and solving reading challenges for rural children. Invited by the Beijing Western Sunshine Rural Development Foundation, the Jiedian International architectural team completed the caring “Yunqiu Bookstore” Children’s Growth Center in July 2023.
This public welfare project focuses on creating a customized, child-friendly environment. By renovating existing spaces and integrating resources such as designers, decor, books, and picture books, it delivers sustainable and replicable spatial prototypes to support education.
Using design as light to illuminate a space for children’s learning and growth filled with limitless possibilities.
A joyful childhood space that seamlessly blends learning and play, encouraging broad perspectives from an early age.
The original reading room at Zhangbukou Primary School spanned just over 60 square meters. After extensive discussions with the principal, it was clear the space resembled a traditional classroom, with fixed elements like a podium, blackboard, and desks occupying most of the room. This conventional setup discouraged students from lingering.
To change this, the design broke away from traditional frameworks, sparking rural children’s enthusiasm for knowledge through innovative design. The result is a vibrant learning and growth space brimming with endless potential.
Before renovation: the library’s original condition.
Design inspires children’s love for reading and knowledge (before and after transformation).
“Qiu” – Drawing Inspiration from Chinese Stories
The design takes the sea of clouds as a stage to create a vivid landscape of mountains and rivers. Inspired by rolling hills and majestic clouds, the 60-square-meter Yunqiu Bookstore Children’s Growth Center becomes a lively and imaginative space full of opportunity.
Concept sketch: “Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.”
The design focuses on creating a cozy and engaging reading area, enhanced with creative features and decorations to captivate children. Cloud-shaped chairs and mountain-inspired reading nooks allow kids to enjoy reading in comfort.
Comfortable and engaging reading space.
A narrative and playful scene space.
The space’s fun is enhanced with sound and lighting effects, introducing sunset hues on the walls with two chandeliers. A stage is set for children’s creative light and shadow play. Interactive features like puzzle game areas, puzzle walls, and story corners provide additional entertainment and learning opportunities, helping children develop reading skills while having fun.
Interactive puzzle game areas.
Loong Boat Festival cultural interactive activities.
The design of “Qiu” draws from layered hills, using vertical and horizontal lines to divide two surrounding mountains into six movable bookshelf blocks. Interaction is key: these six flexible blocks can be combined or moved to suit various needs.
This adaptable design supports multiple uses—from daily reading to hosting special classes, parent-teacher meetings, and drama performances. By moving, combining, enclosing, or opening the blocks, the space transforms to fit diverse scenarios.
Moving, combining, enclosing, and opening “hills”.
This design also creates a sense of hierarchy and visual interest. The undulating shapes and movable shelves add dynamism, making the library more vibrant and inviting. It offers a space not only for reading and learning but also for interaction, creativity, and play.
A stage for interaction, creativity, and entertainment.
Clouds: Childhood Games and Gatherings
Our aim is to create not just a reading room but a place of inspiration. The “Cloud” design mimics the magnificent sea of clouds, adorning the ceiling with a lightweight textured paper cloud grid paired with soft artificial lighting that lends the space a gentle, welcoming atmosphere.
The suspended cloud installation softens the originally high and open space, evoking the sensation of floating among clouds. This intimate setting invites conversations with nature, blurs boundaries, and opens children’s imagination toward the future.
We brought the sea of clouds indoors to evoke the feeling of standing atop a mountain, “climbing high and gazing far into the vast sky and earth, moving freely and confidently.” Using ocean balls, the space gains a tangible sense of childhood joy, breaking spatial and functional constraints to cultivate an open, lively atmosphere.
Children play among dragons and pearls here, uncovering poetic mysteries hidden in the clouds, and delighting in the journey of growing up.
Injecting joy into the ocean ball play area.
Playing with dragons and pearls, children enjoy an ocean of clouds and books.
Design: Beyond Aesthetics, A Public Welfare Practice
In recent years, children’s reading issues in both urban and rural China have gained widespread social attention. Thanks to collective efforts, more children’s books have been donated to rural areas, making book resources less of a priority now. However, building a dedicated children’s growth center remains a major challenge.
Boosting children’s enthusiasm for reading and creating engaging activity spaces are essential for the project’s long-term success.
Learning happily and growing through joyful discovery.
Sunset glow projected through a light curtain.
Architect Bai Yu from Jiedian states, “We hope this project is not just a design outcome but a public welfare initiative that encourages more people to participate in relay projects.”
Following sustainable development principles, this collaboration with the Western Sunshine Foundation explores a new circular economy model combining public welfare and design.
Through engaging and playful design, the project aims to inspire children’s reading habits, making public welfare trendy. This breaks away from the traditional “book donation” model, encouraging broader participation in innovative public welfare projects, and promoting the revitalization of rural education.
Fun and meaningful ocean ball flash mob activity.
Making public welfare a fashion trend — we look forward to your participation.
Project Drawings
Plan view
Sectional perspective
Section diagram
Section diagram
Analysis chart
Project Information
- Project Name: Yunqiu Bookstore
- Location: Zhangbukou Primary School, Xieji Town, Liangyuan District, Shangqiu City, Henan Province
- Total Construction Area: 61.5 square meters
Public Welfare Participants
- Initiating Organization: Beijing Western Sunshine Rural Development Foundation
- Design Team: British Jiedian International Architecture, BAI Design International
- Designers: Bai Yu, Meng Fei, Laura Zurbano, Wang Weina, Li Ziwei, Zhao Jing, Hu Rong, Liang Ying, Pu Xianglin, Pei Fei
- Design Development Team: Dezhen Design (Zhang Dehui, Wang Han, Wu Xue, Sun Wanting, Gao Zhi)
- Design and Construction Team: Bianjiaoxian (Beijing) Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd
- Photography Team: UK Studio
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