LUO Studio uses rotating walls to create flexible Beijing bookshop

Translucent rotating walls pivot to transform the interior of this bookshop in Bejing by Chinese architecture firm LUO Studio.

Located in the 479-square-metre basement space of a shopping mall in the Chinese capital, the Mumokuteki Concept Bookstore sells books as well as design objects, flowers, food and coffee.

A system of five rotating walls help to divide up the Mumokuteki Concept Bookstore (Top and above)

The shop occupies the mall's former equipment room, which featured a disorderly arrangement of walls, columns and dense pipelines.

LUO Studio was tasked with working around these existing architectural elements to create an adaptable retail space that could also host events and exhibitions.

A grid of holes is set into the walls

The studio, headed by architect Luo Yujie, recognised that installing a conventional suspended ceiling to conceal the pipework would have created a cramped, oppressive space.

Instead, the team worked to restore the original ceilings, walls and columns with a view to making a feature out of their industrial textures.

Dowels can be slotted into the holes and topped with shelves to form flexible storage

"The white coating of walls and columns was removed and the irregular edges and corners were fully polished, thereby revealing the aggregate's textures in the concrete columns," recalled the studio.

"The original ceiling structures were retained and endowed with a grey tone, which is slightly darker than the walls and harmonises with the entire space."

LUO Studio painted the exposed ceilings a dark grey

Translucent rotating walls were inserted under the beams as secondary structural components.

Composed of a steel frame sandwiched between panels of frosted plexiglass, these dividers can be rotated or fixed freely at any angle to create an adaptable space.

To create one long, continuous space the rotating walls can be set perpendicular to the entrance

When all of the rotating walls are set perpendicular to the store's entrance, the whole space becomes open and transparent.

However, when they are positioned in parallel to the entrance, the Mumokuteki bookstore is divided into multiple independent parts to create a sense of depth.

A grid of holes is set into the walls, allowing wooden dowels to be inserted and topped with metal shelving for displaying books and objects.

"The metal bookcases are structural furniture, which also functions as partitions that help increase the variability and flexibility of the space," said the studio. "Each metal bookcase is an embedded structural installation."

The rotating walls consist of an industrial steel frame

Rotating steel-framed walls with clear plexiglass screens are installed at the entrance by the coffee bar, creating what the architects call a "transition area" that leads to the rear of the shop where the dining area and further display areas are located.

All of the store's furniture and the coffee bar is made from elm, which adds warmth to the otherwise industrial interior.

The steel framework is sandwiched between panels of frosted plexiglass

"The overall interior design of the project is not conventional, as all strategies taken are aimed to return the architectural space to its original state," concluded the architects.

"Through the insertion of structural furniture and other various spatial creation methods, the design restores the original appearance and authenticity of the space."

The store is located in the basement of a shopping mall

Other interiors with rotating walls include an apartment on the Spanish coast by KMN Architectures where modular storage walls spin around to create extra bedrooms for guests.

Photography is byJin Weiqi.

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"The whole thing feels quite magical" says commenter

In this week's comments update, readers are enchanted by a pop-up synagogue in Ukraine and sharing their views on other top stories.

Manuel Herz Architects has created the Babyn Yar Synagogue in Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of a massacre that took place during the Holocaust.

The synagogue was built near Kyiv at the site of the Babyn Yar massacre, where around 34,000 Jews from the city were killed by the Nazi party in 1941.

The structure consists of two large walls that can be manually opened and closed like a pop-up book.

"A hopeful response"

Readers are in awe. "Thank you for showing this excellent project," said Sheldon Peskin.

"This is an excellent project," agreed Jacob Volanski. "A much more hopeful response than the typical monumental, expressionless structures that are often built to mark the site of a tragedy. How do we fight injustice and cruelty? By banding together, engaging in our world, and transforming it into a more just and beautiful version of itself."

Charlie Bing agreed: "The whole thing feels quite magical – the community has to come together to open the space."

"Amazing work!" concluded Ethan Lewis.

Are you as delighted by Babyn Yar Synagogue? Join the discussion ›

MAD completes amorphous concrete library in China

"Hobbit modernism" says reader

Commenters are intrigued by MAD's design for a library on the coast of the Chinese island of Hainan. Cloudscape of Haikou is cast in seamless white concrete.

"Hobbit modernism," said Heywood Floyd.

"Reminds me of interiors in The Neverhood game," continued Bruno Bru.

"You can't just simply walk past this building without doing a double take!" added BSL. "It's so uncanny it could be whatever one wants to make of it."

What do you think of the library? Join the discussion ›

Snarkitecture adds Nike Air Max chandelier to Kith streetwear store in Parisian mansion

"Luxurious yet tacky" says commenter

Readers are divided over the interiors of Parisian mansion Pershing Hall, the new flagship store for streetwear brand Kith. The 19th-century building was reimagined by Snarkitecture and features a chandelier of Nike sneakers.

"Luxurious yet tacky," said Corporate Overlords.

"Hard not to screw up a big budget retail interior inside a beautiful 19th-century building," replied Lek. "But there's still some very nice interior flourishes here. I'm on board with the sneaker vault and the sneaker chandelier."

"Head explodes!" concluded Apsco Radiales. "Mansion indeed. Gorgeous."

What do you think of Pershing Hall? Join the disc ussion ›

ZJJZ Atelier references Chinese folktale to create The Mushroom guesthouse

"All architecture should be magical" says reader

Commenters are discussing The Mushroom guesthouse, which ZJJZ Atelier has built in a pine forest in Jiangxi, China. It features a conical roof covered in shingles caps.

"I think all architecture should be magical," said Ash Sangamneheri. "This certainly is magical. Well done to the team."

BGSA agreed: "Beautiful detailing and material choices."

"I find this to be a unique, beautiful and very appropriate response," added Archi. "Everything except how the columns meet the ground at those boxes."

Are you impressed by The Mushroom guesthouse? Join the discussion ›

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Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page.

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Manuel Herz Architects creates synagogue that opens like a pop-up book

Swiss studio Manuel Herz Architects has created a pop-up synagogue at Babyn Yar in Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of a massacre that took place during the Holocaust.

Named the Babyn Yar Synagogue, the place of worship consists of two large walls that can be manually opened and closed like a pop-up book.

The synagogue opens like a pop-up book

The synagogue was built near Kyiv at the site of the Babyn Yar massacre, where around 34,000 Jews from the city were killed by the Nazi party over two days in 1941 – one of the largest mass killings during the Holocaust.

Manuel Herz Architects founder Manuel Herz designed the building to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre. However, he did not want to create a sombre memorial.

Its roof pops up and a balcony and seating drop down

"One might think that the appropriate response to this almost unbelievably inhumane massacre should be an architecture that is sombre, minimalist, and monumental," Herz told Dezeen.

"The architectural history of holocaust memorials is full of these. But I wanted to approach the project in a very different way."

It was built near the site of the Babyn Yar massacre

Instead of creating a monumental building, Herz designed a structure that has movement and was informed by both historic wooden churches in Ukraine and pop-up books.

"I strongly believe that a monumental, and static approach would be wrong," said Herz. "We will never match the monumental suffering of the massacre, through monumental architecture."

"The conclusive, definitive and absolute message that a monumental and static building would suggest, stands at odds with the tens of thousands of distinctive voices that perished in Babyn Yar," he continued.

"Hence, the idea was borne to design an architecture that has a performative and transformative quality, that creates a new collective ritual, that is commemorative, just as it also creates a feeling of wonder and awe."

From the rear, the building looks like an open book

The building consists of a pair of 11-metre-high and eight-metre wide walls that were constructed from steel and clad in oak.

One of the walls is set on a track so that it can be moved using a manual winch. When unfolded the two walls are positioned together, but when unfolded a three-dimensional synagogue is created with a roof that pops up and a balcony and seating that folds down.

It has a decorative roof

"I believe no one can resist the temptation of opening up a pop-up book and seeing how a new world unfolds," said Herz.

"We can get lost in this new world, which is exactly what happens, when we come together, to pray in a synagogue – we open a book together," he continued.

"A world of stories, of histories, of morals, and of wisdom. The pop-up book, when transformed into a building, with its transformative quality, and the collective ritual of opening and closing it, seemed to be the perfect leitmotiv for the Babyn Yar Synagogue."

It was built from oak

The synagogue stands on a wooden platform and has walls decorated with prayers and blessings.

Its ceiling is painted with the star constellation that would have been visible over Kyiv, on the date of the massacre in 1941 along with symbols and iconography referencing interiors of the historic synagogues of Ukraine from the 17th and 18th century.

The Babyn Yar Synagogue is the first of several buildings that are planned to commemorate the Babyn Yar massacre on the site, with a museum to commemorate the Holocaust, a memorial depicting the names of the victims and a spiritual centre set to be built.

Led by Herz, Manuel Herz Architects is an architecture studio that has offices in Switzerland and Germany. It has previously completed a housing block in Zurich with dynamic facades that transform into balconies and is building a hospital in Senegal.

Images courtesy of Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.

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