© FON Studio

It’s better known as an area lined with alluring upscale boutiques, but there’s also another, more cultural, side to Sanlitun. Sanlitun Lu, one of the neighbourhood’s main streets, is already home to a number of popular bookshops, and it’s here where joined efforts of the local government and social organisations to provide urban dwellers with more cultural and artistic offerings have resulted in an oasis of bookstores. The latest opening of the sort, elaborately called Spring Breeze Reading Club + Chaoyang City Bookstore, steps it up a little with a tempting venue. As the name implies, the venue is a collab of two different parties, but each sharing a common interest. The venue occupies a lofty 220 sqm. (2,368 sq.ft.) across two floors of a modern structure, and features an interior design by Beijing-based architecture practice FON Studio.

Understated and functional, the ground floor features a reception desk clad in metal that’s offset by tiered wooden shelving lining the wall, paired with matching bookcases and elongated benches. Large windows allow in plenty of daylight, and right below more visitors can be seated on stools at an elongated bar desk. Most furnishings can easily be moved, making the space easily adaptable to a variety of events. The mezzanine floor of Spring Breeze Reading Club + Chaoyang City Bookstore is smaller and more intimate, and boasts a similar functional design, featuring the same tiered wood shelving, but alternated by boxy white storage units. Additional furnishings include collective tables and small benches, and contrary to the abundance of books one floor below, here it’s all about magazines.

Spring Breeze Reading Club + Chaoyang City Bookstore
42 Sanlitun Bei Lu (Sanlitun)
100027 Beijing

© FON Studio