Home Base in Shanghai, China by Quarta & Armando Architecture Design Research

Article source: Quarta & Armando Architecture Design Research

In the new space designed for tableware company Home Base, dining showroom and office coexist in a meld of contrasting brightness and darkness.

Home Base is a tabletop company that works with the world’s best hotels and restaurants in creating bespoke, uniquely designed ceramic tableware to enhance dining experiences. In 2019, it decided to relocate from a conventional office to a new space in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, and Quarta & Armando was given the task to make the most of the 320sqm, 8-meter-tall former industrial building, accommodate an ever-expanding team as well as create a memorable experience for visiting customers.

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

• Architects: Quarta & Armando Architecture Design Research
• Project: Home Base
• Location: Wending Road, Shanghai (China)
• Photography: Peter Dixie_LOTAN
• Clients: Home Base International Co., Ltd.
  
• Lead Architects: Gianmaria Quarta, Michele Armando
  
• Design Team: Gianmaria Quarta, Michele Armando, Gu Tao, Shevaun Kasi Mistry
• Gross Built Area: 526 sqm
  
• Completion Year: 2019

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Office space or showroom? Quarta & Armando opted not to give preference to either, but rather set to create a single space in which the two functions act as polarized entities representing the two souls of the company: one inner-facing and research-oriented, the other outward-looking and convivial.

Visitors are led from a lofty reception space to the showroom area, where a dense hive of cabinets of different heights populates the different rooms, each dedicated to a single collection and its products.

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

The prevailing dark-grey tones of ash wood panels and painted steel serve as a discreet background for the back-lit display shelves, making each product stand out while allowing an overview of the whole collection from the main corridor. The eye first lands on Ruyi, the company’s flagship porcelain collection, while other product series are displayed on the two sides within smaller, interconnected recesses.

The common area is where office and showroom become one. Looming across the full height of the building, it is an open and flexible platform meant to be used as an accommodating space for internal meetings as well as public-facing panels, discussions and product launches.

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Image Courtesy © Peter Dixie_LOTAN

Image Courtesy © Quarta & Armando Architecture Design Research

Image Courtesy © Quarta & Armando Architecture Design Research

Tags: China, Shanghai

Categories: Office space, Offices, Showroom

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