chanel unveils espace gabrielle, mainland china's first contemporary art library in shanghai

Espace Gabrielle Chanel: Shanghai’s new art library

Chanel and the Power Station of Art (PSA) museum unveil a major new cultural destination in Shanghai: the Espace Gabrielle Chanel, mainland China’s first public library dedicated entirely to contemporary art and design. The 1,700-square-meter space, located on the transformed third floor of PSA, anchors the latest phase of the maison’s long-term partnership with the museum. Conceived by Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto, the library turns reading into a spatial experience; its signature feature is a slow, ascending path that folds bookshelves directly into a continuous ramp, encouraging visitors to wander, pause, and discover at their own rhythm.

all images courtesy of Power Station of Art (PSA)

PSA expands with a new center for art, design, and research

The Power Station of Art (PSA) opens the library with more than 10,000 publicly accessible books and media drawn from a wider 50,000-item collection. Focused on contemporary art, design, architecture, culture, and the social sciences, the new resource emphasizes cross-disciplinary research and exchange between local and global perspectives. Above the reading space sits the Chinese Contemporary Art Documentation Center, which consolidates archival materials and research initiatives in collaboration with artists, curators, and scholars. Through exhibitions, talks, workshops, and publishing, the center, supported through Chanel’s partnership with the Shanghai-based museum, treats documentation as an active, evolving tool rather than a static record. For the French fashion maison, the project reinforces its long-term investment in cultural production and knowledge-sharing in China.

PSA’s wider third-floor renewal introduces three additional public functions. A redesigned 300-seat theater creates a flexible setting for film, performance, sound work, and hybrid formats that extend beyond conventional stage boundaries, connecting time-based practices with exhibition areas across the institution. Nearby, the updated hall for the Power Station of Design expands the museum’s long-standing engagement with design as cultural inquiry, providing an enhanced environment for larger exhibitions and cross-disciplinary collaborations examining urban life. Completing the transformation is a new 300-square-meter terrace backed by Chanel’s collaboration, offering a riverside café, family-friendly seating, and open views of the Huangpu River, a moment of calm carved into the former power plant’s industrial frame.

the 1,700-square-meter space is located on the transformed third floor of PSA