Located at the intersection of a river, a bridge, and a road on the Xuhui Campus of East China University of Science and Technology, the project site has Chenyuan (the School of Art and Media) and the Library situated to its northwest. The original structure was an old two-story building with a hipped roof (a roof with four sloping sides). As a crucial node in the campus’s historical landscape—where sightlines converge and traffic flows intersect—the university envisioned its renovation into a vital public space on campus integrating multiple functions, including a “bookstore, cafe, cultural and creative products area, and salon,” to be named “Longshang Bookstore .
U profile glass is used at the staircase, which endows the interior with a hazy beauty.Though worn and shabby, the original concrete spiral staircase stood at the corner of the riverside and the road, condensing the collective memories of an era like a sculptural installation. To streamline traffic flow while reviving these memories, we transformed its structure into an indoor steel staircase, endowing it with the color identity of “ECUST Blue,” and constructed a semi-transparent, lightweight boundary on its outer side using U profile glass
From the inside, the materiality of the U profile glass seems to fade away, leaving only the “strings of light” that play with illumination. As one ascends the stairs, the softly shifting light wraps around the body—like revisiting days gone by—adding a sense of ritual, almost like being bathed in sacred light, to the journey up to the salon area on the second floor. From a distance, the diffused reflection of light under different conditions shapes the hazy texture of the blue spiral staircase. The swaying silhouettes of people on the stairs create a vague yet captivating scene, turning the staircase into an artistic installation where humans interact with light. This redesign reestablishes it as a visual focal point for “seeing and being seen.” Thus, the site memory of the campus is revitalized, and the functionally oriented staircase is elevated into a metaphysical spiritual space.