Space as a landscape of contemplation

A place for self-knowledge through reading, Satori Harbor was designed by the Wutopia Lab studio to achieve a transcendental state. In Guangzhou, China

It is a library, but one that holds a city within. And with it the relationship between the space and people, addressing our innermost needs for spirituality and balance. Yu Ting, founder of the Wutopia Lab, made a design that goes deep in Satori Harbor, a true holder of symbols, along with its books. This “refuge for the soul” is located in the city of Guangzhou, China, inside the new headquarters of VIPshop, the Chinese company that manages the e-commerce site VIP.com. Between the 18th and 19th floors of the building, Yu Ting enacted what he likes to call “magical realism”: “the representation of a known world, in a way that its correlation with

the real world is felt but is different because of its absurdity and wonder.” The designer and his team infuse human and social qualities in existing forms, abandoning the traditional image of the space and making room for unexpected places. An abstract city is recreated within the library with all the typical elements of a city, with obvious references to the harbor because of its strategic presence, translated into a suspended dimension in which “users can wander among the books and experience moments of illumination and liberation.” Significantly, Wutopia Lab borrowed the word ‘satori’ from Taoism, referencing the experience of spiritual awakening and the moment of enlightenment. As we come into Satori Harbor, the city is, as such, essentially a surreal image, existing outside of time, though at points we might perceive the movements of the surrounding environment from the large, high glass windows. Here the harbor, the dunes, the riverbanks, and the rolling hills appear: the café, the lobby, the magazine area, and the theater. Yu Ting designed the experience of space and time through the use of light and dark. Many intimate corners await individual visitors, such as the tunnel that leads to

Architecture, interior and furnishings design: Wutopia Lab Project manager: Pu Shengrui Design consultant: Studio Yuda Design development: Dai Yunfeng, Wu Xiaoyan, Guo Jianv, Zhao Ruyi (Alignment Studio Shanghai) Lighting consultant: Chloe Zhang Structural engineering: Yu Junfeng Project coordination: Li Sha, Liu Hui Construction manager: Luo Zhiyue Furnishings: on design

Author: Manuela Di Mari Photo credits: CreatAR Images

the absorption created by reading, several alcoves scattered about for taking breaks, and spaces like a cave with a tiny circular window that frames a miniature slice of the outside world. In the heart of the library, there is a fascinating, long stylized white ship that offers a “safe harbor” where you can rest or stroll. It skirts the row of shelves that hold the books: 13 spans that simulate the city walls that were once covered by panels reproducing the facades of the Thirteen Hongs, buildings of the historical maritime trade. The most eyecatching scenic feature is the enormous red sail that drops slowly as needed to divide the vessel in two, conceptually breaking the chains of materialism as a step towards enlightenment. Yu Ting and Wutopia Lab’s design is a new, complex, fascinating way of using architecture as a tool focused on the human being.