This project is an extension of the showroom of Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. in Xiupu Road, Pudong, Shanghai. Due to the increase of team visitors in the showroom and the lack of suitable meeting rooms, the client wanted to add a new meeting area to meet the increasing demand for customer reception and meetings.
The site was an office area located on the first floor of an office building. The advantages of the original space are the tall height and the squareness of the space, which is conducive to the use of medium and large-scale conferences and events; the disadvantage is that the external window is small and the natural light is weak, which makes it more closed and dark when used for meeting and reception functions (see photos of the original space).
After communicating with the client team, we both agreed on some design requirements: firstly, the meeting space needs to be compatible with multi-functional activities to meet different scenarios (e.g. client visits, event launches, self-service meal, banquets, etc.), in order to improve the efficiency of the space utilization; secondly, the space needs to be bright, light and spacious, but at the same time needs to meet the basic privacy (e.g., not to be disturbed by the outside during the meeting and prying eyes, etc.) to provide a comfortable experience for the users.
The largest meeting room is located on the east side of the space, near the exterior windows, where the original column grid of 8.4m x 8.4m can be maximized to form a large space with no columns inside. The design takes advantage of the high ceiling of the original space by integrating the original roof piping as much as possible on the side to further enhance the height of the space. The east-facing facade was removed and replaced with glass, allowing natural light to enter the interior. At the same time, an outdoor courtyard was created around the exterior of the room, opening up the interior space to the courtyard, so that users can not only enjoy the courtyard view indoors, but also enter and exit freely, expanding the indoor use scenario to the outdoor courtyard. The furniture in the large meeting room is also composed of foldable furniture, which can be flexibly changed in different scenarios.
The secondary spaces such as the medium meeting room, small meeting room, lounge and pantry are arranged on the west side of the space, connected by a corridor. Due to the small scale of the space, the ceiling height is lowered to 3 meters in order to get a better proportion and feeling of the space. In order not to make the space feel closed in and depressive, high windows with luminous glass were installed above the 2.1 meter height of the walls.
The entire space is designed in a ' assembled ' form, consisting of a series of sticks and panels. The heavy and depressing volume is dissolved, presenting users with a light and bright meeting space.