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      Linehouse creates tactile restaurant with “Mediterranean soul” in Shanghai

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      Design studio Linehouse has used natural, tactile materials for the interiors of the Coast restaurant in Shanghai for China’s casual dining brand Gaga.

      The restaurant is set inside a traditional mid-century Shikumen house – a blend of Western and Chinese architecture – with a renovated interior informed by its Mediterranean menu.
      “We aimed to create a deep connection with coastal elements and Mediterranean soul,” said Linehouse co-founder Alex Mok.
      Linehouse has completed the Coast restaurant in ShanghaiAccording to the studio, the restaurant’s aesthetic is one of “refined rusticity” – a contemporary reframing of rough-hewn vernacular styles, that creates a laid-back and tranquil atmosphere.
      Throughout the scheme, Linehouse was informed by the idea of coastal terrain, including earthy and fired elements.

      Linehouse chose a natural material palette, which in turn informed the colour scheme that flows throughout the interior of the three-storey restaurant.
      Green-glazed lava stone surrounds the ground-floor cafe and barThe aim was to take the visitor on a “vertical journey” by giving each of the three floors its own unique identity.
      “The colours and materials shift on each floor, telling a different part of the story,” Mok said.
      The bar is finished in the same tilesOn the ground floor, where a daytime cafe transitions into an evening bar, green and earthy tones link to the leafy garden beyond. Walls are wrapped in a green-glazed lava stone, with a deliberately hand-made patina, “representing the earth element”.
      Custom furniture pieces designed by Linehouse were used throughout the restaurant, while lighting was chosen for its intriguing, sculptural forms from designers including Santa & Cole and Studio KAE.
      Natural timbers were used for the centrepiece bar counter, while the timber-framed windows open up to the silver-grey of the olive trees outside.
      An open-hearth grill features on the first floorAbove this on the first floor is an intimate dining space lined with white-washed stone and timber panelling. Layered oak panels hung horizontally from the ceiling create intimate dining nooks, with taupe-toned banquette sofas and oak dining tables.
      The focal point of this room is the parrilla – an open-hearth grill – and a chef’s table.
      “The concept of the open parrilla grill captures the quintessence of Mediterranean cuisine,” Mok told Dezeen.

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      On this level, fire-informed red and brown tones punctuate the space including the tiles that line the kitchen, which were repurposed from used coffee grounds.
      Finally, on the top floor under the exposed timber beams of the pitched roof, Linehouse created a string-wrapped wine room and a lofty private dining space.
      Panels of string line the staircase structureThe walls were again clad in white-washed stone. But here, it is contrasted with the intense black of yakisugi, or fire-preserved wood, which serves as a backdrop to a chef’s table.
      The space also features a generously-sized balcony, providing views out across this bustling neighbourhood.
      Linehouse created a string-wrapped wine room on the top floorThe spaces are linked by a staircase that weaves up through the centre of the building. Its chalky-white outer walls are patterned with a sculptural relief of sea creature exoskeletons, echoed by collections of shells displayed in glass jars nearby.
      Panels of string, woven into simple grids, line the staircase structure, allowing natural light to flow into the heart of the building.
      “We chose materials that tell the story of the coastal journey, while the exoskeleton wall is a modern representation of the sea,” said Mok.
      The top floor also houses a private dining roomLinehouse was founded by Mok and Briar Hickling in 2013 and the duo went on to win emerging interior designer of the year at the 2019 Dezeen Awards.
      The studio has completed a number of other projects in Shanghai, including a space-themed cafe decorated with real meteorites and an office housed in a former swimming pool.
      The photography is by Wen Studio, courtesy of Linehouse.

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      Neri&Hu inserts shed into old lane house for Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Shanghai

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      Chinese studio Neri&Hu has inserted a stainless-steel shed into a Shanghainese lane house for Blue Bottle Coffee’s latest cafe in Shanghai, which opened to the public last week.

      Located in Zhangyuan in one of the area’s 140-year-old traditional Shikumen mansions, Neri&Hu’s design for the coffee shop aims to evoke “an intimate and nostalgic experience and bring back the memories of ‘home’.”
      The Blue Bottle coffee shop is located in an old Shanghainese lane houseShikumen, also known as lane houses, is a traditional type of Shanghainese house that was popularised during the 19th century. They usually feature high brick walls that enclose a small front yard, with residential units arranged close to one another in narrow alleys.
      For this project, Shanghai-based Neri&Hu kept the existing brick walls, wooden doors and windows of the original architectural facades but replaced the interior wooden structure with concrete.
      A shed made of stainless steel at the centre of the cafe is used as a coffee barThe formerly separate units in the building were removed to form a large open space for the cafe. A stainless-steel shed was erected at the centre of the space to serve as the main coffee bar area.

      The structure of the shed was built with brushed, perforated and bent stainless steel to maximise the transparency of the space and contrast the heavy palette of the existing architecture.

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      The areas around the bar hold seating arrangements including long benches, low stone tables, wooden stools, and vintage walnut furniture, which were chosen to reflect the traditional lifestyle in Shikumen.
      Neri&Hu also nodded to the informal constructions that people living in Shikumen houses used to extend their private spaces into the alleys, by adding metal rods and small platforms to existing structural columns.
      The steel span of the coffee shop shed and its integrated lighting design came from the clothes-hanging-rods and street lamps commonly seen in the old Shikumen homes.
      The seating area features a range of vintage furnitureBlue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California, in 2002 and has since grown into a chain of cafes across United States and Asia.
      This is the third Blue Bottle Coffee shop in mainland China. The first one was opened in February this year, designed by Schemata Architects, followed by the second one designed by Keiji Ashizawa Design in August, all located in Shanghai.
      Neri&Hu also recently turned an old textile factory in Beijing into the headquarters of a Chinese pastry brand.
      The photography is by Zhu Runzi.
      Project credits:
      Partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana HuAssociate-in-charge: Qiucheng LiDesign team: Jiaxin Zhang, Xi Chen, Peizheng Zou, Shangyun Zhou, Greg Wu, Luna HongFF&E design and procurement: Design RepublicGeneral contractor: Blue Peak Image Producing Co.,Ltd
      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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      Reflecting pool centres XC273 fashion boutique in former Shanghai towel factory

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      Chinese studio Dongqi Design has turned a disused factory in Shanghai into a multi-brand fashion and lifestyle store, adding glossy marble and metal surfaces to offset its exposed concrete shell.

      Set across three floors, the XC273 retail space houses designer showrooms and pop-ups alongside a small cafe, as well as providing spaces for temporary exhibitions and events.
      Dongqi Design has turned a former factory into a fashion boutiqueFormerly a state-owned towel factory, the building had already been changed several times before the latest round of renovations.
      Dongqi Design strived to preserve and emphasise these different layers of history, which are contrasted against shiny new finishes to create a kind of “nostalgic futurism”.
      “All the differences of the space were kept as part of the building’s history so that people walking in could feel that the boundaries between the past and the present are blurred, as if they had walked into a timeless space,” the studio explained.

      The XC273 store houses a cafe alongside designer showrooms and pop-upsThe building is organised around three voids, which now form the basis of the store’s circulation routes.
      The largest of these voids consists of a double-height space at the core of the building, where Dongqi Design added a small reflecting pool surrounded by a collonade.
      Glossy surfaces are contrasted against the building’s raw concrete shellThe collonade’s raw concrete columns are left exposed where they face the pond, while their other three sides are wrapped with either marble, wood or metal.
      This approach is replicated across the store’s display fixtures to create a sense of spatial continuity. It can also be seen on the first floor, where new paving was added to enhance the existing geometric flooring.

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      A sound tunnel that provides visitors with an experimental music experience was placed near the cafe on the ground floor.
      The second floor is accessed via a metal staircase, which is suspended above the reflecting pool and winds its way up through a small hole in the ceiling.
      A reflecting pool was installed at the core of the building”The key element connecting all the spaces is the stairs,” the studio explained.
      “The stairs are designed in their purest metallic form, further enhanced by the details of the balustrade where the fence becomes a simple element sliding into the structural beam at the bottom while having a profile on the top to allow visitors to grab the handrail comfortably.”
      Concrete paving was added to complement the geometric flooring on the first floorOn the second floor, Dongqi Design selected a bright white finish to emphasise the old wooden structure of the building’s pitched roof. A series of square windows let light into the space and offer views out across the city and toward the sky.
      To balance out the otherwise all-white interior, the VIP room is finished in a darker palette. During spring and summer, these darker shades also contrast with the colour of the trees outside.
      Dongqi Design gave the second floor a bright white finishXC273 has been shortlisted in the large retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Other projects in the running include a second-hand bookshop in Shanghai that uses supermarket-style crates to display its wares and a reusable sales showroom with fabric walls.
      The photography is by Raitt Liu.

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      Atelier Tao+C creates serene timber and travertine reading room

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      Two vacant ground-floor rooms and an adjoining greenhouse were knocked together and lined with bookshelves to form this private library, designed by Atelier Tao+C for a venture capital firm in Shanghai.

      Set in a converted 1980s house, which is home to the offices of VC fund Whales Capital, the reading room can accommodate up to 12 people and is shared between the company’s employees and the owner’s friends.
      Atelier Tao+C has created a reading room for Whales CapitalAll of the rooms are enclosed by immovable, load-bearing walls, which local practice Atelier Tao+C had to integrate into the design while creating the impression of being in one continuous 76-square-metre space.
      To this effect, the original doors and windows were removed and three openings – measuring between two and three metres wide – were created to connect the rooms.
      The space is lined with wooden bookshelvesThe remaining wall sections are hidden from view by new architectural elements including a set of semi-circular wooden bookshelves, which run through the two ground-floor rooms to form a pair of small, quiet reading nooks.

      The structural walls connecting these rooms to the old glasshouse were wrapped in creamy white travertine to create a kind of “sculptural volume”, Atelier Tao+C explained.
      Skylights funnel natural light into the interiorAs a result, the studio says the walls and structural columns are “dissolved” into the space to create the feeling of a more open-plan interior.
      In the old greenhouse, a timber structure was inserted into the building’s glass shell, with bookshelves integrated into its wooden beams and columns to create a seamless design.

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      This structure also forms a wooden ceiling inside the glasshouse, with strategically placed round and square skylights to temper the bright daylight from outside and create a more pleasant reading environment.
      Spread across the interior are four different seating areas: a small study table for solo work, a shared meeting table, a reading booth for one person and a sofa seat where multiple people can talk and relax.
      White travertine was used to obscure the building’s original brick wallsA Private Reading Room has been shortlisted in the small interiors category of the 2022 Dezeen Awards.
      Atelier Tao+C, which is run by designers Chunyan Cai and Tao Liu, is also shortlisted for emerging interior design studio this year, alongside Sydney firm Alexander & Co, Barcelona-based Raúl Sánchez Architects and London practice House of Grey.
      The photography is by Wen Studio.

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      Neri&Hu creates “nomadic” office interiors for Shanghai media company

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      Chinese architecture studio Neri&Hu has designed a flexible office space in Shanghai for the changing needs of media company Red+Plus Studio’s employees.

      The Shanghai-based studio stripped back the 529-square-metre space, located on the second floor of a factory building within a former industrial campus, by removing numerous layers of previous renovations.
      The concrete structure is exposed in the office’s central spaceThe concrete structure of the building was left exposed throughout with a number of columns breaking up a large multi-use space at the centre of the office.
      Large steps within this space can be used as seating for presentations with a hidden projector placed in the roof.
      The existing skylights were used to light the desksTwo stainless-steel structures enclose meeting rooms alongside this main space, while private offices are arranged alongside it.

      A room with stainless-steel desks, which is lit by six pre-existing skylights in the sloping roof, stretches along one edge of the room.
      “With the strength of the building’s original character revealed, any additions to the space were carefully applied in layers that allow what is behind to coexist, inhabiting the liminal space between past and present,” explained the studio.
      A hidden projector can be lowered to create a screening roomThe studio used “nomad” as the design concept, based on the client’s request for flexible working spaces.
      Spaces were designed so that they can serve multiple functions, with several sliding doors created to provide flexibility and allow the company to alter the workspace dependent on future needs.

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      “Much like the itinerant populations that move between cities to offer specialized services, the people working for and with this agency needed their spaces to transform according to various scenarios,” said the studio.
      Stainless steel and frosted glass were widely used throughout the space to contrast the concrete structure and reflect the changing usage. Galvanized steel and mesh were selected as they will change colour over time.
      Various office rooms are placed at the edge of the main spaceNeri&Hu’s other recent projects include a courtyard house in Singapore and a guesthouse wrapped in metal mesh in Shenzhen.
      The photography is by Zhu Runzi.
      Project credits:
      Partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana HuAssociate: Siyu ChenDesign team: Jerry Guo, Kenneth Qiao, Jinghan Li, Ath Supornchai, Kany Liu, Greg WuFF&E design and procurement: Design RepublicContractor: Shanghai Idea Mechanics Interior Designers Contractors

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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.

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      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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      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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      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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