Black-clad additions meet white originals in Wutopia Lab’s Heart Fields bookstore near Suzhou

Designed as a hybrid cultural destination, Heart Fields combines a public bookstore, café, and boutique accommodation within the carefully reconstructed remains of an abandoned rural compound outside Suzhou.

Located in the countryside near Suzhou, Heart Fields occupies the site of three abandoned village houses and a courtyard. Completed in 2024, the project is the latest addition to the ongoing transformation of Lindu Warm Village, following the architects’ earlier hospitality projects in the area.

Rather than preserving the entire complex, the design retains the entrance house and the existing well, preserving the familiar scale and memory of the original settlement. The remaining buildings were dismantled and rebuilt, creating a contemporary intervention that respects the site’s layered history while introducing a new public function.

Instead of relying on familiar rural design clichés, the architects developed the project through a clear architectural contrast. Existing structures remain white, while new additions are wrapped in dark finishes. The two volumes overlap, shift, and separate through narrow gaps, creating a composition where old and new remain visually distinct yet inseparable.

This strategy extends beyond material expression. Expansion and compression of volume, black and white surfaces, and public and private programmes all work together to establish a dialogue between contrasting architectural elements without resorting to nostalgic imitation.

The project is organised into two primary buildings connected by a glazed bridge. The preserved single-storey house accommodates a café and reading room, while the larger reconstructed volume contains the main bookstore and a flexible salon space at ground level.

Natural light enters the bookstore through a central light well, while the open-plan interior extends seamlessly toward the surrounding courtyard. Rather than functioning solely as a retail space, the building encourages visitors to linger, read, gather, and engage with the rural landscape.

Above the bookstore, four boutique guest rooms introduce a second layer to the project. Rather than separating hospitality from the public programme, the accommodation is carefully woven into the architecture itself.

Hidden doors concealed within the bookshelves reveal private staircases leading directly to each room. Every guest enjoys an independent entrance, allowing complete privacy despite the compact footprint. During the day, the bookstore remains open to visitors. After closing, the ground floor quietly becomes part of the experience for overnight guests, transforming the building into a more intimate domestic environment.

Each room responds differently to its position within the building. South-facing rooms extend onto sloping terraces created by cantilevered floor slabs, while the northern rooms open onto recessed balconies overlooking the surrounding village landscape.

Heart Fields is ultimately less concerned with recreating an idealised image of the countryside than with proposing a new model for rural cultural life. Bookstore, café, salon, and guesthouse coexist within a carefully calibrated architectural composition where preservation and intervention remain in constant dialogue.

Since opening in early 2024, the project has become an active cultural destination and has received several regional recognitions for promoting rural reading culture. More importantly, it demonstrates how architecture can support everyday community life through restraint rather than spectacle, allowing contemporary design to emerge naturally from the memory of place.

Project Credit

Project Name: Heart Fields
Location: Shanglin Village, Hengjing Sub-district, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
Building Area: 323 m²
Completion Year: 2024
Design Firm: Wutopia Lab / @wutopia.lab
Photography: CreatAR Images / @creatarimages