More stories

  • in

    Cheng Chung Design creates restaurant within brick art installation in China

    Hong Kong architecture studio Cheng Chung Design has created a restaurant and exhibition space within the cavernous interiors of a brick art installation in Mile City, China.The restaurant, named 50% Cloud Artists Lounge, occupies one of several distinctive structures in Dongfengyun Town that evoke a giant cluster of termite mounds.
    Cheng Chung Design’s (CCD) interior is deliberately pared-back to retain focus on this unusual building, while also forming a backdrop to the artwork that is exhibited throughout it.

    Top image: the restaurant occupies a cavernous brick building. Above: it resembles a giant cluster of termite mounds

    “It was to be not only a restaurant but also an art space with an exhibition area,” said CCD’s founder, Joe Cheng.
    “It aims to serve as an exhibition hall for various cultures and arts, providing a space for the public to get close to and enjoy art,” he told Dezeen. “You can see original art throughout the entire space.”

    The entrance is marked by a curving steel doorway
    The brick structure within which the restaurant is located was created by local artist Luo Xu and made without any steel reinforcements or nails.
    The interiors of the other buildings in the cluster, also designed by CCD, have been transformed into a multi-functional hall, an art gallery and a hotel.

    Steel panels guide visitors inside
    CCD marked the entrance to the restaurant by a trail of curving steps that lead to an arched door and a series of curving steel panels.
    This is modelled on the nearby Honghe Hani Rice Terraces – a system of historic terraces used to grow rice – and designed to add an “artistic touch” that is complementary to the colours and sinuous form of the building.

    The restaurant layout responds to overhead skylights
    Inside, the layout of the restaurant’s bar, chairs and tables responds to the curves of the structure and the positions of round openings carved into its roof.
    As the walls of the building could not be decorated, this is intended to draw visitors’ attention to the light that filters in through the skylights and onto the bricks and creates patterns throughout the course of the day.

    Patterns of light across the brick walls are the focal point
    “Light is an essential element in the space,” said CCD. “Guests can experience the change of light in every minute.”
    “All design elements are arranged based on light and under skylights. Natural light tells the passage of time throughout the day, and creates diversified spatial experiences,” the studio added.

    Woven lampshades help softly filter light
    Furniture is kept simple throughout, with cool colours and curved bodies that complement the form of the building.

    Cavernous brick vaults define Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in China

    These are teamed with large woven lampshades that softly light the room, alongside art-deco style partitions that were used to loosely divide the space.

    Furniture is kept simple throughout
    The artwork throughout the restaurant ranges from bespoke furniture to larger sculptures designed by CCD and produced by an artist called Qi Songtao.
    This includes an abstract, cloud-like piece and a metallic, woven artwork that mimics a human head.

    A cloud-like sculpture is among the featured artwork
    Elsewhere in China, Studio Zhu-Pei also created a series of sweeping, red-brick structures to house the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum.
    Located in the city of Jingdezhen, the museum’s cavernous buildings are all unique in size and are designed to recall the forms of traditional brick kilns.

    Read more: More

  • in

    O-office Architects transforms abandoned factory buildings into Chinese tea museum

    O-office Architects has converted several buildings on a tea plantation near Guangzhou, China, into a cultural centre featuring a rooftop garden wrapped in bamboo screens.As part of the (Re)forming Duichuan Tea Yards project, local firm O-office Architects was tasked with revitalising three disused buildings at the plantation in the Gaoming District of Guangdong Province.

    O-office Architects has converted three factory buildings into an exhibition space
    The site in Duichuan Village was established as a tea plantation in the 1950s and comprises more than 300 acres of gently rolling hills dotted with small lakes.
    O-office Architects was approached to help transform three factory buildings into an exhibition space in 2017, after the tea yard had been abandoned and fallen into disrepair when the demand for its tea declined at the start of the 21st century.

    The buildings are decorated with bamboo screens. Photo is by Huang Chengqiang

    The exhibition space is located at the heart of the reestablished production facility, which will soon begin harvesting its first new crop of Duichuan tea.
    The renovated buildings now contain exhibits offering visitors a historic overview of Duichuan tea culture, alongside a fine-dining restaurant and the tea yard’s offices.

    A new stone podium wrapping the buildings frames views of the landscape
    The three 1980s edifices are situated on a small island in an artificial reservoir that also contains woodland, with low-rise former workers’ housing nestled amongst the trees.
    Exposed concrete structures and narrow-framed steel windows were retained to evoke the buildings’ industrial heritage. The architects also sought to enhance the connection between the former production spaces and the surrounding plantation.

    The complex is surrounded by several ponds and trees
    “We tried to find a simple spatial prototype for the reconstruction of the site to load the envisioned cultural settlement,” said the architects in a project statement.
    “The design gradually approached a concept of the mixture of ‘pavilion’ and ‘podium’,” the studio added. “We tried to evolve the prototype of the ‘pavilion’ into a settlement that encompasses production and detour.”

    Roof gardens are connected by bridges
    To house the main cultural and public spaces dedicated to the history of tea production, a new podium made from blocks of dark local granite was constructed around the base of the existing buildings.
    This structure functions as a viewing platform and contains openings that redefine the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, lending the facility a more porous and welcoming character.

    The podium is composed of blocks of dark local granite
    New roof gardens on top of the three factory buildings are connected by bridges so visitors can traverse the site whilst taking in aerial views of the plantation.
    The garden courtyards are lined with bamboo screens that also extend onto staircases at the corners of the buildings. The stairs connect the rooftop with the stone viewing platform, creating a route that leads visitors all the way around and over the site.

    The factories’ original concrete structures are exposed inside
    “This connection creates a vertical yet horizontal promenade that wraps around the original production space,” the architects pointed out.
    “We hope this tour can evoke a sense of ‘in search of a lost time’ [whilst] at the same time acting as a response against the rapid industrialisation of modern urban and rural areas.”

    O-office Architects reinterprets traditional Chinese courtyard house in concrete and steel

    The blending of the industrial buildings with the plantation is enhanced by landscaping that includes several ponds and trees that reach through apertures in the stone podium.

    The new podium contains public spaces
    O-office Architects was established by He Jianxiang and Jiang Ying in Guangzhou in 2007. The firm works on projects across various scales, from urban design and architecture to the exhibition and furniture design.
    Several of O-office Architects’ projects focus on renovation and conserving the architectural history of the Pearl River Delta. It previously worked on a residence inspired by vernacular courtyard houses found in the region.
    Photography is by Zhang Chao unless stated.
    Project credits:
    Architect: O-office ArchitectsClient: Midea GroupDesign team: He Jianxiang, Jiang Ying, Dong Jingyu, Huang Chengqiang, Zhang Wanyi, Cai Lehuan, Wu Yifei, He Zhenzhong, He Wenkang and Peng WeisenStructural consultant: Situ Ying, Luo Qiyao and Luo JiajieM.E. consultant: Bun Cong M&E DesignV.I. Design: TheWhy art x design

    Read more: More

  • in

    BLUE Architecture Studio adds U-shaped glass box to Shanghai coffee shop

    Beijing-based BLUE Architecture Studio has renovated the % Arabica West shop in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, adding a glass box and a courtyard to open the cafe up to the surrounding neighbourhood.The studio’s aim for the 50-square-metre renovation was to break the boundary between the commercial space and the street.
    To do so it designed a U-shaped glass box, which contains the coffee counter, till and preparation area, in place of a regular facade. The box is surrounded by a courtyard-style seating area.

    Top: a glass box instead of a facade opens the cafe up. Above: trees in the cafe courtyard make it blend in with the street

    “The space is completely opened up to form a small courtyard around a U-shaped glass box,” the studio said.
    “Curved glass doors that can be completely opened, and ground materials that extend in from the outside.”

    Customers sit on built-in cement benches
    BLUE Architecture Studio also took the minimal style of % Arabica’s shops into consideration when creating the design, which has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the restaurant interior category.
    “The use of materials continues the brand’s consistent minimalist style, using white paint and plain cement as the keynote,” BLUE co-founder and architect Shuhei Aoyama told Dezeen.
    “Green plants become the protagonist of the space, blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor.”

    The studio used white and grey hues to create the minimalist design
    Built-in cement benches along the walls provide seating space, while green plants were used to enhance the courtyard feel and create a dialogue with the Chinese parasol trees that line the street.
    “The shops make part of their commercial space outdoor and contribute to the city street,” Aoyama said.

    The coffee shop is located in the Xuhui district in Shanghai
    “Although the commercial area of the shops is smaller, they create a rich three-dimensional street space experience, so that people’s life can truly relate to the urban space,” he added.
    An air conditioning system was installed at the outdoor lounge area, as well as an air curtain machine at the entrance, to create a “more pleasant experience” in both winter and summer.

    DooSooGoBang restaurant in South Korea references Buddhist practices

    BLUE Architecture Studio was founded by Japanese architects Yoko Fujii and Shuhei Aoyama in Beijing in 2014.
    The % Arabica West coffee shop will compete against four other restaurant interiors in the restaurant interiors awards category, including the Embers restaurant in Taipei that features a “vortex” of cedar planks and South Korea’s minimalist DooSooGoBang restaurant.
    Photography is by Eiichi Kano.

    Read more: More