The Studio was founded in Shanghai in 2016 by architect Gu Yi, who returned to China after more than a decade of living in Africa. The Studio advocates the design concept of "restraint and minimalism" and applies contemporary lifestyles to compose ancient eastern aesthetics by paying attention to the details and possibilities of normal materials. By adhering "Five Forms and Six Senses" that are in line with the times and the place, the studio aims to bring people's experiences back to a warm, peaceful, and simple humanistic context.
Adhering to the brand philosophy of "architecture is bold, design is warm", Gu Yi aspires to create benevolent and warm designs for people as long as possible.
The studio’s design scope covers tea aesthetics, commercial spaces such as restaurants, retail, and boutique hotels as well as public art spaces, residential spaces, office and Religious Space Design.
Since its establishment, the firm has completed projects of different categories and scales. Representative works include: The Container, Duo Yun bookstore (Shanghai/Chengdu/Suzhou), Shanghai Longhua Temple - Pagoda Shadow Space, Yongfu temple Zen Museum of Art, Suzhou hanshan Temple - Tea Space, Atour Hotel 4.0 R&D, Fotile Commercial Retail, and so on.
At the same time, he is also the guest designer of the program "Dream Maker" (five consecutive seasons). Representative works include: Chaozhou-Da Wu Parlor [2024],
Anti Ding 's guest house [2023], Donglan-Happy Banquet [2022], Shaoxing-Winter Brewing lodge[2021], Dabie Mountain-Home on the Sea of Flowers [2020].
Through her participation, Gu Yi has become more convinced of the core concept of design with kindness and warmth and has deepened his enthusiasm for architecture into every project, to convey thoughts and practices on contemporary living spaces to more people.