INSIDE Guangzhou is a gin bar and coffee shop located in Pazhou, Canton (Guangzhou). R-BAS was invited to reshape this mini-space within a limited construction budget via introducing a constantly changing panorama of dynamism into the interior.
The homely bar provides semi-self-service-beverages for the community. Expected to allow customers to use the facilities on site flexibly, the design was asked to study the environmental psychology that how laid-back emotions and perceptions could be brought about from the room, promoting positive internal and external interactions, thereby enabling diverse social behaviours upon this small area.
The front door and the back door are connected by a straightforward circulation with a visually appealing crescendo. R-BAS places a huge, multilayered furniturised structure that functions as tables, seating, cabinets, flooring and countertops. Continuous and abundant interfaces are thus generated through the composition and twisting of the sculptural wooden blocks; that is, the freedom of actions (sitting, lying, frolicking, carousing, etc.) and the non-homogeneous spatial versatility is emphasised. With the change of the direction of the use of the same object, the shop is easy to transform from a gathering corner at night to a daytime workplace.
Simple and bright coloured materials are utilised indoors to maximise the interestingness of the massing itself. To draft an unrestricted and relaxed sense of place, the designer creates an unpolished beauty of brutality by means of oriented strand boards. Art gallery-ish ceiling system is adopted, making the structure underneath a performance venue for consumers' unique experience.