6 Types of Construction Modules × 3 Kinds of Corrugated Cardboards = 18 Bookstores
The beginning of the story of using cardboards creating exhibition space can be traced back to October 2022, when Power Station of Art was holding the exhibition Back to the Future: Breaking the Time Barrier(curated by Zuo Jing and Wang Yanzhi), with an exhibition space constructed by highly recyclablecorrugated cardboards.

In late April 2023,LUO studio was invited again by curator Zuo Jing to join the TBB Xinyang Book Market: Books 'N Teaevent. The studio was asked to design and build exhibition settings for 18 different bookstores and institutions engaged inthe temporary book market. The location of the exhibition was set in Autumn Bookhouse and Winter Bookhouse (designed by Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects) inBaihuayuan Four Seasons, Xinyang, Henan Province.It was also atask with strict time limit, that the whole process of design, communication, processing and construction needed to be finished within 7 days. Therefore, how to create spatial diversity withinsuch a tight schedule wasessential yet challenging.

1. Follow the Architectural Space
The exhibition venue is a small building complexwith a fan-shaped plane. Buildings in the north and southof the site are arranged symmetrically along the east-west axis.Among them, the north building consists of two independent spaces under the same roof, presenting two small circular sectorson the plane, one of which is used for forum and activities, and the other is for special exhibitions including SYU HEOI CANTONand Expo of Local Publications.

The plane of the south building appears to be a complete fan shape. It providesa larger exhibition space for 18 bookstores and institutions.In the middle of the circular spaceis an open sector composed of three spans, suitable for placing bookshelves and tables.The combination of two rows of bookshelves facing the outer glass windows and one row of exhibition tables in the middle, is arranged in the space of each span. This creates threeparallel areas (two bookshelves and four small tables in each area).In this way, efficient spatial division for the18 bookstores is realized in a way that conforms to thearchitectural space.

2. Various Types of Construction
As the 18 different independent bookstores participating in the exhibition havevarious concepts, it is very important to create diversity through effective design methods, which facilitates not only the distinction between bookstore brands, but also the organization of the exhibition. According tothe size of the three spans in the building, three different methods to assemble the display bookshelves were worked out, including vertical-horizontal plugging, front-rhombus plugging and lateral-beveled plugging.In this way, each section of the bookshelves between the three spans is different.

The three bookshelf assembly methods also considered the ways of placing and fetching books ofvarious sizes. The bookshelves assembled withvertical-horizontal plugging can place books of different sizes, and this type of bookshelf can also hold the largest number of books. The type of bookshelves installed through front-rhombus plugging methodis more suitable topresent hardcover books.

While for softcoverand smaller-sized books, a bended acrylic card component needs to beattached, so as tomeet the demands for placing more varietyof books. However, fewer books can be placed due to the increase of flexibility in this way.The capacity of different types of bookshelves with distinct assembling methods, exactlycorresponds to the varied number of books (40, 60, 80, etc.) provided by each bookstore.

3. Corrugated Cardboards in New Colors
In 2022, the space for theBack to the Future: Breaking the Time Barrier exhibition held at the Power Station of Art, Shanghai was constructed by using corrugated cardboards in the regular light brown colorof kraftpaper. In early 2023, the design team received several papersamples in red, black and white colors newly developed by the paper factory. And different colors could be set as single-sided covering or double-sided cladding. The new colored papersprovided varied possibilitiesfor the version 2.0 of exhibition space constructed by corrugated cardboards.

In a very limited time, taking up to 18 bookstores into consideration, LUO studio chose to use the three new colored paper materials, and matched different colors with different construction methods, to finally form a wide variety of exhibition bookshelves.

4. Prefabricated & Handcrafted & Reversible
Limited by objective conditions, the task was to take no more than 7 days to complete the whole process from design to construction for the exhibition space for the temporary book market,so the construction must be highly standardized. All the components were manufactured rapidly in a mechanized way in the factory, and modularly assembled on site. This achieved high rate of prefabrication, avoiding large waste of time caused by on-site construction.

However, the highly industrialized production method is obviously contrary to the humanistic attributes of books. To strike a balance, Yukou Paper, which is handmade by a very unique ancient papermaking method, was chosen for printing the graphic design deliverables such as the exhibition preface, posters, and bookstore logos, instead of using regular paper produced in an industrial way. This kind of paper is slightly yellow and roughly textured, that matches well with the corrugated cardboards on its background, bring the impression of handcraft and correspond to the humanistic attributes of books. The curator Zuo Jing has been promoting this ancient handmade papermaking technique by using Yukou Paper in his daily work.

The projectdid not adopt the common way of screen printing on the exhibition wall, nor did it use industrial paper pasted directly on the wall, but chose to press the corners of Yukou Paper with nails on corrugated cardboards. The construction method provides more convenience for the recycle and reuse of the corrugated cardboards after exhibition, and realizes high reversibility of the materials.This is consistent with the curator and design team's dedication in sustainable practice for a long time.

Team:
Exhibition space design & construction: LUO studio
Space design & construction: Luo Yujie, Lu Zhuojian, Wang Beilei, Hong Lun, Cao Yutao, Liu Chonghao (Intern), GengRuijia (Intern)
Exhibition theme: Xinyang Book Market: Books 'N Tea
Organizers: CPC Xinyang Municipal Committee, Xinyang Municipal Government
Co-organizers: CPC Yangshan New District Committee, Management Committee of Yangshan New District 
Execution: Xinyang Xinzi Investment Group Co., Ltd., Xinyang Two Are Better Co., Ltd.
Chief curator: Zuo Jing
Co-curator: Tan Fang
Executive curator: Peng Yanhan
Exhibition curators: Fen Lei, Hu Yanzi
Exhibition design: Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects
Visual design: He Jianping
Poster design: PAY2PLAY
Photography: JinWeiqi, Bonnie, Zhang Xiaoshu
Exhibitors: abC Art Book Fair, Paideia, ARTDBL, One-way Street Journal, Big Fish Community, DUKU, JUAN ZONG BOOKS, Old Heaven Books, Jiazazhi, Local Bendi, Z/S BOX, naive, ARCHIPELAGO BOOKS, YAN BOOKS, EPbooks, Building Dwelling Thinking
Special exhibitions: SYU HEOI CANTON, Expo of Local Publications
Corrugated cardboard supplier: Kunshan Three Doves Paper Technology Co., LTD
Paper sponsor: Fujian NinghuaYukou Paper Culture Development Co., Ltd.