PAGEONE was founded in Singapore as a bookstore which stood out by providing high quality design and art books. PAGEONE is still popular amongst readers with it unique style. For instance, readers describe the Sanlitun branch as “hidden in the most prosperous place” while the Beijingfang branch was announced as one of “the Most Beautiful Bookstore of Beijing” by the Beijing Xicheng local government.

Different from the business atmosphere of Sanlitun and the rich historical environment of Beijingfang, Wudaokou is one of the area in the Haidian district of Beijing with the most universities, teachers and students that bring fresh energy to this area. The PAGEONE Wudaokou is an independent construction next to the Wudaokou station of the subway line 13. The modern and irregular polyhedron facade is a composition of panels with different dimensions and shapes that mainly wrap up the second floor. Based on the characteristics of the site, the lighting design concept of "Welcoming readers' lively heart in a quiet atmosphere" was set at the beginning of the lighting design work.

Professional lighting designers are well aware of the impact of light on people's emotions, especially in a reading space. The lighting design intent was to bring comfort to every detail while being committed to eliminating unnoticed spots in the space to achieve tranquility in a busy area, thus providing the best space for reading and thinking.

The interior lighting uses a comfortable 3000K warm white color temperature with a discreet and even lighting layout integrated into the ceiling details well thought by the interior designer as to provide adequate lighting for readers.

As the interior designer made the white ceiling clean separated by black trenches where equipment such as CCTV, lighting, speakers, sprinklers, ventilation are installed. This way it is possible to reduce the number of down lights to a minimum and use high power LED linear track lights for the general 3000K lighting. When necessary for flexible book stands accent lighting comes from the track lights.

Even a small and simple mockup was meaningful and sufficient to show the customer and the interior designer that it wasn’t necessary for the lighting fixtures installed in the ceiling trenches to be recessed up too much (see the pictures taken comparing a recess distance from the surface of the ceiling trench of 2 and 5 cm, both of them caused light spot).

Inside the East elevation, the adjacent bookshelves lights were also designed on a separate circuit so that after the bookstore’s closing time, the interior glow originating from these bookshelves contrast with the facade which doesn’t have any lighting except for the logo.

As the large glass curtain wall allows natural light to enter the interior space, the lighting design includes a separate circuit to independently control the adjacent lights and save energy. Furthermore, all these lights are aiming inward to avoid glaring for the pedestrian outside the bookstore.

Bookshelves lighting is a key element of every bookstore, but the outcome of the effect is not always satisfactory as the following pre-investigation shows common problems.

(Left picture) The book cover reflects the light to form indirect glare; The light spot on the end of the luminaire is obvious. (Right picture) The interlayer arrangement causes shadows.

Several rounds of mock-ups involving the shelves’ manufacturer and the lighting manufacturer were necessary to select the optimal lighting effects.

Each of the three types of bookshelves has a different wattage per meter based on functionality: the standard bookshelves with standard linear light, the taller bookshelves facing the glass curtain wall that need more visibility using a higher wattage per meter lighting and finally bookshelves that need accent lighting with the highest wattage per meter.

In addition to its reading space, as PAGEONE Wudaokou can also hold lectures and exhibitions, some of its bookshelves can be disassembled and reassembled in order to provide the more space for the activities. Therefore, the lighting in these bookshelves needs also to be easily disassembled.

The stair leading to the second floor is sandwiched by high bookshelves while the ceiling lighting above the stretchable film can be adjusted.

PAGEONE Wudaoko is a soft lantern that not only quietly shines over a small corner of the city but also leads its readers on the path to knowledge.