Headquartered in Beijing, Xiaozhu commissioned People’s Architecture Office and People’s Industrial Design Office to design House Parts Office, their latest office space located in the city’s hi-tech center. Xiaozhu (literally ‘small pig’ but homophonous with ‘short stay’) is a peer-to-peer housing rental website. The startup is China’s rival to Airbnb and part of the country’s new ‘shared economy’.
Unlike the introverted quality of the traditional courtyard house, the owner of this site asked for a variety of mix-use program, including tea house, dinning, party space, office, meeting, as well as dwelling and entertainment. Thecontemporary and sometime “public” program opened up the courtyard to become “extraverted”, so as to induce more human interactions. These required us to break the general understanding of the courtyard as an enclosed typology by introducing the experience of “meandering in the hutongs” into the courtyard, and the interventional approach was derived from the unfolding spatial narrative of hutong life.
In 2016, we were invited to design CUPONE, a coffee shop located at the headquarters of BMW China, by the lobby of Gateway Plaza, a commercial development near Beijing’s embassy district. CUPONE Café extends from an angle of the building’s lobby towards an outdoor terrace, with an indoor area connecting both sections. To integrate these features into a homogeneous design, we selected a “Mountains and Rivers” theme for the project.
No.12 Middle School is one of the best schools in Beijing. There is a strong need from the neighborhood to have the School incorporate kindergarten education in their curriculum. The kindergarten of the school strives for building the best school of the neighborhood, and the architecture of it reflects its ambition. On top of that, the architecture aims for shaping a unique character for the school while enlivening the area of the city.
Beijing Tongying Center InterContinental Hotel lies in the heart of Sanlitun, Beijing – a prime location for fashion and culture. During the day, it is crowded with people, its night is as bright as the daytime and bustling sounds and gorgeous colors fill the city with din and luxury.
Focusing on fashion, technology and future development, InterContinental strives to create a fashion lifestyle flagship store in a new yuppie style.
Beauty of orient lies in the lyric way of expressing emotions and its simple and natural nature. Such characteristics are not superficial symbols or cultural elements imposed on inner nature. Symbols and elements are not essential in design and they themselves only could not build up good designs! Beauty of Asia lies more in the flexible way of design.
Powerhouse Company has completed its most recent project in Beijing, China. The 1,000 m2 project, located on the ground floor of the Yintai centre at Guomao, is a multifunctional social venue with ski and snowboard simulators, a sports area and dance club, all shaped in a white mountain landscape under a warm golden sky.
The project is located between JianWai SOHO and the Park Hyatt hotel. The site is the latest addition to John Portman’s Yintai Centre, and with a full glass facade it gives the project great exposure in the CBD area of Beijing.
Transformation of an industrial building into a multifunctional space
At the beginning of 2016, BlueFocus Communication Group decided to develop a series of venues in multiple locations across Mainland China. The first was then established in Beijing, at the same location used for the Group’s Headquarters, a former Panasonic factory complex of recent renovation. Such a decision is an unmistakable reflection of the company’s priorities, to evolve in China from a manufacturing power into a creative force, under the leadership of its charismatic Chairman Mr. Zhao Wenquan.
The French School of Beijing, designed by Jacques Ferrier Architecture and Sensual City Studio, has been imagined as a built landscape. It is being developed on a site in the “Orchard” neighbourhood, which takes its name from the old orchards which, until recently, were a defining feature of this stretch of land alongside the road to the airport. Since then, the development of high-end residential blocks and international schools has introduced a new urban character with collections of low rise buildings alongside generous green spaces.
WITHWHEAT in Sanlitun locates beside the street in southern Taikoo Li. The design mission included the interior and façade. The façade is made of a full-height glass curtain wall. People can have a view of warm and natural interior design through this glass wall.