Emerging during the Ming dynasty in the Jiangsu province, Kunqu often unfolded in improvised outdoor settings, prompting local troupes to develop portable stage structures. These Tangmingdan could be rapidly assembled, dismantled and carried from venue to venue, thanks to how their modular panels were able to collapse into a single transportable box. Although few examples sadly survive today, the designers drew directly from this tradition, grounding their design on the principles of modularity and adaptability. Rather than treating the bookstore as a fixed retail interior, they created a micro-theatre, capable of being reconfigured, be that for readings, workshops or performances.

At the heart of the space, the designers inserted a compact Tangmingdan-inspired box: a 7-square-metre enclosure housing the cashier and an extendable retail table. Finished in a deep antiqued-brass stain, it stands out against the otherwise muted palette of white, light grey and blond plywood surfaces not only for its colouration but also for its ornamental articulation. While the rest of the bookstore adopts a restrained minimalism, the kiosk is composed of decorative panels: some fashioned from reclaimed wooden doors discovered on site and stripped of paint using a carbonizing technique, others newly made with circular cutouts or perforated steel inserts whose rhythmic pattern riffs on the latticework of the originals. Suspended above, spherical pendant lamps extend outward on cantilevered arms, echoing the lanterns that once crowned traditional stages.