The publishing house itself needs only three stories of space. Yet the lively real estate market in China and the high cost of land have driven the company to construct a twelve-story building and develop
rental office space, conference and exhibition facilities, a hotel, restaurant, café, bookstore—even an art museum and an indoor basketball court. This hybrid use inspires and informs the architectural design: The structure is thus dissolved into three relatively independent micro-buildings. The publishing house is located on the top floor, with rental office space and commercial activities below. The spaces between the micro-buildings are open to the public and form a vertical urban garden while also serving as a fire escape. This very urban quality of the in between space pushes the edifice towards a miniature city.