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      Traditional Chinese roof tiles decorate the interior of Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Shanghai

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has used traditional Chinese roof tiles as the key material at Blue Bottle Coffee’s latest shop in Shanghai to celebrate local culture.

      Set to open on Friday, the cafe is located on the first and second floors of a building connected to the Kerry Centre in downtown Shanghai, close to the over 1,000-year-old Jing’an Temple.
      The new Blue Bottle Coffee shop is located in downtown ShanghaiKeiji Ashizawa Design placed a total of 13,000 handmade brick tiles on the bar counter, stairwell wall and the lounge area of the cafe.
      This particular type of bricks, which have semi-circular edges, were made in Yixing, a nearby city that is known for its clayware manufacturing. A new smoking process was used for the surface of the tiles to increase their strength and create a subtle reflective effect.
      Bespoke handmade brick tiles were used to cover the bar counter”As Blue Bottle Coffee commits to create local communities around their cafes, we always determine the materials and design based on the local, both culture and history,” studio founder Keiji Ashizawa said.

      “Working on a project in mainland China as a Japanese architectural firm, I felt that there was an importance in considering the common aspects between the two cultures,” he added.
      “With that in mind, we looked through images I photographed and found an image of a roof I took from a restaurant in Chengdu, which inspired me to use roof tiles for the cafe.”
      The stairwell allows visitors to enjoy views of the coffee-making processA coffee bar that connects both floors is at the centre of the space, while seating and product displaying areas are arranged around it.
      According to Blue Bottle Coffee, this is to encourage customers to interact with the process of coffee making.
      An open lounge is on the second floor of the cafeThe stairwell is right next to the bar counter on the first floor so that when people walk up to the second floor, they are able to watch coffee being made at the bar area from different heights.
      An open lounge space at the second floor features a hanging paper light above a seating area with dark-brown furniture and leather cushions.

      Keiji Ashizawa designs Blue Bottle Coffee shop for “cave-like space” in Maebashi hotel

      Where the shop connects to the Kerry Centre, a series of semi-circular recessed seating areas have been carved out from the wall on both floors.
      The rounded shape of the seating areas not only responds to the roof tiles but also creates privacy for the customers dining in the cafe.
      Keiji Ashizawa Design used concrete in a variety of colours and textures all over the cafe, which has structural columns and slabs in raw concrete. Natural oak furniture was selected to add warmth to the interior.
      The seating areas are designed to reflect the shape of traditional Chinese roof tilesBlue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California, by James Freeman in 2002 and has since grown into a chain of cafes across the USA and Asia.
      This is the second Blue Bottle Coffee shop in mainland China. The first one was opened in February this year, designed by Schemata Architects, also in Shanghai.
      Previously, Keiji Ashizawa Design has designed three Blue Bottle Coffee shops in Japan.
      The photography is by Chen Hao.

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      Geometric metal fixtures feature in Wuhan's QYF fashion boutique

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      Chinese design studio Sun Concepts Office has accented the pale interior of the QYF boutique in Wuhan with straight, curved and squiggly metal fixtures.

      The interior’s clean, geometric look is meant to reflect the modern womenswear on offer in the store, which occupies two storeys on a prominent corner plot of Wuhan’s Tianyuan Street.
      The store features creamy walls and matching stone floorsAs customers come through QYF’s entrance, they’re welcomed into a large open room.
      Here, the floor is lined with cream-coloured stone tiles while a matching shade of paint was applied to the store’s walls, ceilings and chunky structural columns.
      A curved bench sits at the centre of the floor planAt the heart of the plan is an arced bench, comprised of a shiny metal base and seating cushions upholstered in burnt-orange velvet.

      Nearby, a cream-coloured sideboard is outfitted with a built-in bench and a small stool.
      Clothes are hung from linear metal railsOtherwise, Sun Concepts Office left the store free of bulky display solutions so as to “protect the integrity of the space”.
      Garments are showcased on metal rails at the periphery of the store, some of which are finished with squiggly crossbars. A couple of clothing rails were also concealed behind alcoves in the walls.

      Atmosphere Architects creates optical illusion in Chengdu jewellery store

      Accessories are presented on tiered platforms that run along the outer edge of the store, or on circular metal stands that are affixed to the central bench.
      Extra rows of metal shelves can be seen on the store’s rear wall, positioned beneath an illuminated sign that reads QYF’s French brand slogan.
      Several rectangular mirrors were added to enhance the interior’s sense of depth.
      Curved stairs lead to the second floorA curved set of stairs leads up to the store’s second floor, which was finished in the same style.
      Sun Concepts Office also updated QYF’s facade, installing a huge metal door and several expansive glass windows to tempt passing pedestrians inside.
      Mirrored panels help give the room a sense of depthOther striking retail spaces in China include KVK, an all-black jewellery boutique that plays with customers’ spatial perception, and Harmay, a cosmetics shop designed to resemble a 1970s office.
      The photography is by Liu Zheng and Wang Minjie.
      Project credits:
      Design team: Sun Concepts OfficeChief designer: Liu ZhengLighting: Wuhan Lighting Design

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      Atmosphere Architects creates optical illusion in Chengdu jewellery store

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      Geometric grids cover most of the surfaces in this futuristic jewellery store in Chengdu, China, designed by local studio Atmosphere Architects to play with customers’ spacial perception.

      Located in the Jingronghui shopping centre in Chegdu’s Jinjiang district, the 180-square-metre concept store belongs to jewellery brand Kill Via Kindness, abbreviated as KVK.
      KVK is a jewellery store in Chendu’s Jingronghui shopping centreThe store features a dimly-lit entrance lined with green resin panels, which leads through to a windowless display space where the walls are clad in matt black tiles.
      A gridded black framework is installed across the interior’s luminous, frosted acrylic ceiling and matched below by white floor tiles. At one end of the room, a mirrored wall creates the impression that the interior stretches on to infinity.
      Glossy black tiles cover the store’s modular display units”The core concept behind KVK is ‘the reorganised philosophy of art’,” Atmosphere Architects told Dezeen. “Therefore, the client wanted a space that is flexible and easy to reorganise with flexible and adaptable modules.”

      In response, the studio created display units clad in glossy black tiles, which can be divided and joined together to form different modular configurations.
      Drawers hidden in the walls illuminate when openedDrawers integrated into the shop’s tiled walls provide additional storage and double up as adaptable lighting features.
      “When the drawers are pulled out, the light turns on immediately,” said Atmosphere Architects, which is led by designer Tommy Yu.

      Linehouse designs space-themed cafe in Shanghai for creator of “Australia’s most Instagrammed dessert”

      Spiders are a reoccurring motif in KVK’s jewellery. The brand’s concept store nods to this idea via the spindly legs jutting out from the entrance and the black gridded framework that covers the floors and ceilings like a web.
      “There are many elements about conflict, consciousness awakening, aggression and sharpness in KVK’s product concept,” the studio said.
      “In the space, materials and colours with different lights and shades, depths and textures are selected to express the ideology and beauty of collision.”
      The entranced is lined with green resin panelsOther futuristic monochrome interiors featured on Dezeen include a space-themed cafe in central Shanghai by design studio Linehouse.
      The photography is by Chuan He of Here Space.

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      Sculptural partitions shape blue-tinged interior of Taste of Dadong restaurant in Shanghai

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      Huge curving walls divide the blue-lit dining spaces inside this restaurant in Shanghai, designed by Chinese studio AD Architecture.

      Conceived by AD Architecture to deliver an “emotional”, dream-like dining experience, Taste of Dadong is steeped in an inky-blue light that seeps from LED panels in the walls and hidden strip lighting in the ceiling.
      Curving partitions separate seating areas inside the Taste of Dadong restaurantCarving up the restaurant’s floor plan are several tall curving partitions, amongst which intimate seating areas have been created for small groups of guests. Each one features a circular dining table and leather armchairs, all cast in a blueish hue.
      Alternatively, diners have the option of sitting at one of the booths that have been dotted around the restaurant’s periphery.
      Behind the bar is a luminescent fuchsia-pink drinks shelfSections of the ceiling have been clad with mirrored panels that show warped, upside-down reflections of diners and staff wandering the room, adding to the dreamy quality of the space.

      Meals are also accompanied by what the studio describes as a “psychedelic” soundtrack of songs.
      A pink faux skylight shines down on one of the dining tablesA contrasting pop of colour washes over the restaurant’s bar, where the AD Architecture has installed a drinks shelf that emits a fuschia-pink glow.
      Pink lighting has also been fitted behind an amorphous faux skylight that sits directly above one of the eating areas, as well as in small square openings that have been punctuated above the seating booths.
      Seating booths have been placed at the edges of the restaurantAD Architecture is led by Xie Peihe and has offices in Shenzhen and Shantou. The studio’s Taste of Dadong project is one of many visually-striking restaurants and bars that can be found across the city of Shanghai.
      Others include J Boroski, where the walls are decorated with thousands of preserved insects, and Bar Lotus, which features dramatic arched doorways and a rippled gold ceiling.
      The photography is by yuuuunstudio.
      Project credits:
      Design firm: AD ArchitectureChief designer: Xie PeiheClient team: Da Dong, Yuan Yufang, Tang Mingji, Si Xi, Shi Xiusong, Taste of Dadong Shanghai BranchConstruction team: Beijing Huakai Construction Decoration Engineering CoMechanical/electrical team: Beijing Zhitong Siyuan Mechanical & Electrical Design ConsultingLighting consulting: Beijing Guangshe Lighting DesignFixtures team: Beijing Hezhong Youye Hotel SuppliesKitchen team: Beijing HEC Hotel Supplies

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      Studio Nor scatters chunky stucco walls throughout Qinhuangdao hotpot restaurant

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      Thickset stucco walls hide unsightly structural panels inside this branch of restaurant chain Jin Sheng Long, which Studio Nor has designed in Qinhuangdao, China.

      Jin Sheng Long is a historic eatery known for serving hotpots and baodu – a traditional tripe dish. Since opening its first outpost in Beijing in the late 19th century, the restaurant has expanded into a chain with a number of outlets nationwide.
      Structural panels found throughout Jin Sheng Long are now enclosed by stucco wallsIts latest outpost in the port city of Qinhuangdao occupies a trio of former retail units on the ground floor of a residential tower.
      As a result, the interior is plagued by a number of awkwardly placed structural panels, which Chinese practice Studio Nor chose to retain and turn into key design features by encasing them within chunkier stucco-coated walls.
      The walls demarcate cosy dining nooksThese walls now form a labyrinth of cosy dining nooks that diners can explore, mimicking what Studio Nor describes as the “intricate and meandering” arrangement of stalls in a Chinese food market.

      Even the restaurant’s wooden tables and benches were chosen to resemble the furniture found in these markets.
      The restaurant’s tables and chairs resemble those found in a food market”We got inspiration from Jin Sheng Long’s history,” the studio said.
      “Back in the late Qing Dynasty, the founder of the restaurant started his business by setting up street stalls in Beijing’s famous old Dong’an Market – a then-popular destination full of dazzling attractions and bustling with life and activities.”
      The structural panels located in the centre of the room also serve a decorative function, with their enclosing walls set at unexpected angles and finished with curved niches for displaying bonsai trees, vases and other ornaments.

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      A bar is located towards the rear of Jin Sheng Long’s Qinhuangdao restaurant, in the only part of the room that is uninterrupted by structural panels.
      This area is anchored by an eight-metre-long counter, which is raised up on a stage-like brick plinth to highlight the theatricality of the drinks preparation process.
      Walls at the centre of the restaurant feature curved nichesStudio Nor expanded the restaurant’s windows to bring in more natural light and lined their inner frames with copper in a nod to the traditional cookware used to serve hotpot.
      Artificial lighting, on the other hand, was kept to a minimum in a bid to draw attention to the few illuminated areas that pop up throughout the interior.
      A brick plinth raises up the bar counterElsewhere in Qinhuangdao, BLUE Architecture Studio found another clever way of concealing unattractive structural elements when designing the Zolaism cafe.
      Here, the studio disguised the building’s support columns as huge craggy boulders.
      The photography is by Songkai Liu.
      Project credits:
      Architecture firm: Studio NORLead architects: Boyuan Jiang, Jingwen WangDesign team: Zhongyuan Liu, Wenxuan Xu, Yiming Lu, Shuo YangLighting consultant: Chloe ZhangConstruction team: QX GroupConstruction documents consultant: Shanghai C-Yuspace Design

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      GS Design repeats arch motifs throughout Sumei Skyline Coast hotel on Hainan Island

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      Cresting ocean waves served as a blueprint for the arched forms found on the interior and exterior of this beachside hotel that GS Design has created in Sanya, China.

      Located on the tropical island of Hainan, the Sumei Skyline Coast hotel was designed to reference its immediate environment.
      Arches feature on the interior and exterior of the Sumei Skyline Coast hotelThe building’s facade is punctuated by curved windows and balconies that suggest rolling waves, and is painted in a crisp shade of white to contrast the rich blues of the surrounding sea and sky.
      “We worked to craft the space into a timely and sophisticated art piece with a long lifespan of usage by adopting this classic colour,” explained Chinese architecture firm GS Design.
      Sculptural white furnishings decorate the lounge areaOn the ground floor, a series of upside-down arches runs along the wooden decking adjoining the infinity pool.

      More spots for swimming are found on the expansive roof terrace as well as in the first-floor lounge, where stepping stones lead over a curvy-edged indoor pool.
      The light-filled room is otherwise dressed with a couple of potted plants and an array of sculptural white armchairs with matching side tables.
      Stepping stones lead over the curvy-edged poolThe curved shapes seen on Sumei Skyline Coast’s exterior are echoed throughout its guest rooms, which are accessed via vaulted corridors.
      Some rooms have circular skylights or huge round headboards that project over the beds. Others feature arched recesses accommodating cushioned bench seats or vanities.

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      All bathrooms come complete with a standalone tub, positioned next to the windows to give guests optimum views of the island beyond.
      In keeping with the rest of the hotel, the guest rooms are finished completely in white with textural interest provided by tufted beige decorative cushions that are scattered over the soft furnishings.
      Arched or rounded forms are incorporated into the guest roomsGS Design was established in 2014 and is based in Shenzhen.
      The studio’s Sumei Skyline Coast project joins a number of hotels that have recently opened across China. Among them is BAN Villa, which was designed to look like a “floating village”, and Grotto Retreat Xiyaotou, a hotel modelled on ancient cave dwellings.
      The photography is by Ao Xiang.
      Project credits:
      Architecture, interiors and furnishing: GS DesignDesign directors: Liangchao Li, Yuanman HuangDesign team: Chao Li, Zigeng LuoFurnishing director: Yu Feng

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      Linehouse designs Shanghai restaurant informed by New Wave art movement

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      Design studio Linehouse has filled a restaurant in a Shanghai art museum with mirrors and arched details informed by eastern and western art and design.

      Located inside the UCCA Edge museum, the New Wave by Da Vittorio restaurant was named after the original UCCA museum’s opening exhibition The New Wave Art Movement, which also set the tone for its interiors.
      Arched shapes are used throughout the restaurantNew Wave, a 20th-century art movement in China, is renowned for its bold experimentation that brought Chinese art into the modern art world.
      “The concept for the restaurant comes from the collision of these opposing elements and the process of change,” said Shanghai-based Linehouse.
      New Wave by Da Vittorio is located inside Shanghai’s UCCA Edge museumTo enter the restaurant, guests pass through a narrow passage that leads from the public museum space into a more intimate dining area.

      The restaurant, which measures 620 square metres, also holds a bar, private dining rooms and an outdoor terrace.
      Mirrors create an illusion of more spaceA sequence of arches was added to the restaurant in reference to the use of colonnades in classical architecture, while matching arched mirrors create an illusion of spatial progression.
      New Wave by Da Vittorio also features a ceiling installation formed by arches designed in a more eastern style.
      Hanging fabric was cut into curved shapes to match the arches in the interiorThe installation consists of hanging fins made from a Japanese triaxle fabric with a woven texture, which has been cut into vaulted shapes to create a softness that evokes floating clouds.
      The sheets of fabric are placed in a repetitive order with a pattern that only emerges once you see through one sheet to the next. The studio hoped this would evoke the contradiction between order and chaos.

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      “Throughout the restaurant, we seek contradiction in materiality to create qualities of soft and hard, rough to smooth, order to unordered and solid to transparent,” Linehouse co-founder and lead designer Alex Mok told Dezeen.
      The studio used stone for the main bar counter, which it sculpted into a curved, fluid shape to further explore the juxtaposition between soft and hard surfaces.
      Linehouse deliberately chose a stone with a smaller repetitive pattern to create a continuous piece.
      A stone bar is decorated with mirrorsThe bar area also has a floor patterned with different kinds of stone while in the private dining rooms, precision-machined stainless steel and curved lacquered timber were paired to create another form of contradiction.
      “Materials are manipulated as a catalyst for creating disorder, dissipation, fragmentation and surprise,” Mok said.
      Different types of stone create a polka-dot pattern on the floorLinehouse also recently finished a space-theme cafe for Australian chain Black Star Pastry’s first Chinese outpost.
      The studio was named emerging interior designer of the year at the 2021 Dezeen Awards.
      The photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.
      Project credits:
      Architect: LinehouseDesign lead: Alex Mok, Briar HicklingDesign team: Jingru Tong, Inez Low, Aiwen Shao, Leah Lin, Jiabao Guo, Cherngyu Chen
      Dezeen is on WeChat!
      Click here to read the Chinese version of this article on Dezeen’s official WeChat account, where we publish daily architecture and design news and projects in Simplified Chinese.

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      Norm Architects conceives Xiamen's Basao tea parlour as an oasis of calm

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      Danish practice Norm Architects has created an understated interior for the Basao teahouse in Xiamen that was designed to offer a “clear antidote” to the hustle and bustle of the Chinese port city.

      Basao takes its name from Baisao, a Japanese monk who lived during the Edo period and spent the latter part of his life wandering around Kyoto and selling tea.
      The Basao tea lounge is arranged around a Chinese stone counterHis Zen Buddhist writings were a key reference point for Norm Architects in the design for the “tea lounge”, which is meant to evoke a sense of tranquillity.
      “With room for quiet contemplation, the space is a clear antidote to our fast-paced on-the-go culture, instead immersing its visitors in the calming sounds of tea being prepared, poured and enjoyed,” the studio said.
      Seating around the counter provides views of the brewing processAt the heart of the store is a chunky counter crafted from speckled Chinese stone that is positioned beneath a coffered oak ceiling.

      Here, customers can order drinks and observe them being prepared from a couple of high stools.
      A wider variety of seating is assembled on one side of the room, incorporating different tactilities and shapes from suede poufs to wooden benches and a long banquette upholstered in chestnut-brown leather.
      More seating lies at the room’s periphery”Carefully considering the sense of touch, the experience of the space becomes an interplay of textures and temperatures in combination with contrasting polished and raw surfaces,” Norm Architects explained.
      To the other side of the lounge is a retail space, where Basao merchandise is showcased on black steel shelves.

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      More products can be presented on slim metal ledges and pivoting displays built into the tea parlour’s oak-panelled walls.
      Oakwood also covers the building’s facade, which was modified so that its walls are sloped invitingly towards the entrance.
      Black steel shelves display Basao’s products in the retail spaceThe facade is punctuated by huge windows that can be pushed up concertina-style to let fresh air and natural light into the interior.
      Alternatively, customers have the option of sitting outdoors on the terrace, which is decorated with a number of leafy plants.
      A large window allows the tea parlour’s interior to be opened up to the outdoorsBasao is Norm Architects’ first project in China.
      The Copenhagen-based practise has recently completed a number of interiors in its hometown including Notabene, a shoe store with warm industrial interiors, and a bookstore that takes design cues from old-school libraries.
      The photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.

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