1. Design Concept
The rivers from Longli in Guizhou, China, flow among forests, mountains and rising mist to create a magnificent natural atmosphere, a classical concept of oriental beauty. Yet today, the present project aspires to transcend the Chinese concepts of tradition and heritage, and stand at the intersection between past and future through a doorway opened by design. In this way, our entire project desires to evoke the Longli of the past by embracing two abstract elements linked to it: “clouds” and “water”. At the same time, the design profusely considers wind-activated art installations, like reflections of the future. “Clouds”, “water” and “wind” are all natural elements that, despite being portrayed in abstract forms, manifest the essence of the East, not far from ancient classic poetry: “at the Dragon’s birthplace, the wind blows and water rises”.
2. Concept and Features of the Spatial Layout
The entire building, from the exterior to the interior, exhibits an unusual modern presentation. Among such modernity, the soft décor integrates an elegant array of oriental elements. The interior sits behind a large landscape wall, while the design exhibits irregular semi-circular curved walls and curved doors that produce unconventional spatial highlights. Furthermore, the art selected for the area is emotional, delicate and light, thus reinforcing the spatial atmosphere and strengthening the visual center.
3. How does the entire design concept develop during the design process?
What kind of decorative art harmonizes with it?
The art forms and materials we selected on this occasion are quite abundant. In order to express the concepts of “cloud”, “water” and “wind”, we kept an open mind and experimented, hoping to find ourselves in the project. In addition to the sizable sculptures mentioned before, we added small ones to be even more abstract and imaginative, and feature the works of local and international young artists. There was even a time when we had the artwork designed and ready, but we casually found one work in the Chuanmei Graduation Exhibition that was very resembling, equally refreshing and vigorous. Thus we decided to replace the design. Or perhaps design can never be completely satisfied.
4. What kind of sensory experience is delivered to customers based on urban culture and localization?
At the start of the design process, the customer’s idea was already clear: the project must transcend the concepts of tradition and heritage, and stand at the intersection between past and future through a doorway opened by design. Urban culture portrays local culture, as the standardized urban culture always inherits unique features from the latter. At the same time, a unified urban culture reciprocally invigorates local customs. And so, we hope that people who come here can feel the integration of tradition and modernity in the first place, as well as the combination between art and technology. Just have a look at Japanese and European design to get a clear understanding; tradition and modernity, urban and local cultures are not opposites, and cannot be separated. On the contrary, their layers evolve together and further intertwine to reach harmony and mutual achievement. This is indeed a fascinating cultural experience.
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