In 2021, the company Librairie Avant-Garde commissioned the Beijing-based firm TAO | Trace Architecture Office to build a series of bookstores, including that of the Academia Chongzheng in Weishan and the recently completed one in Yangpo.

Atop the Gaoligong Mountains, with views of the Nujiang River and the two sacred mountains of the Lisu and Bai ethnic groups, stands this new bookshop composed of concrete volumes. The inspiration for the forms of the design came from the distinctive tools of the Lisu people, such as crossbows and arrows, celebrating their adaptation to the region’s challenges. The pitched roofs of Yangpo village’s dwellings and the mountain ridge provided a cultural and natural context for the project.

This bookstore’s three levels open out to the viewing decks, each one offering a different spatial experience. Visitors start their tour at the top, where there is an elevated café with a sloping roof. The middle level is the actual shop. Downstairs, an auditorium illuminated by skylights is a venue for events.