Opportunity and Imagination
The project is located at Haiya Mage Mall in Bao’an, Shenzhen. As such a drawer concept retail is built within such large business volumes, the comparison between the beverage store and the mall, somehow forms a relatively unitary parasitic and contrasting relationship.
Project Name: Peak Tea
Project Location: HaiYa Mega Mall, Bao’an District, Shenzhen
Design Team: Onexn Architects
Principal Architect: Bo Zhang, Jingjing Wang
Team Member: Bingxiang An, Ming Zeng, Ziying Cai
Construction Drawing: Nanfang Li
Execution of Construction: Yulin Le
Lighting: Pudi Design
Project Scale: 90 m2 Indoor Space, 100 m2 Outdoor Landscape
Photographer: Chao Zhang
“We hope to break through the traditional mode of retail chains and create an experimental beverage store.” said our client, which deeply moved us as we first met. Regarding the project, the space includes an approximately 90㎡ indoor area and an approximately 100㎡ outdoor area, it was extremely challenged especially for the outdoor implementation, however, it is the challenge this space brought that inspires and sparks our imagination, which allows us to set sights on a bigger perspective, to see the indoor and the outdoor space as a whole, instead of as separate areas.
Run into Naturalism Romance
We want to create a landscape space that blends the indoor with the outdoor area. The inside space will work as a support for the function of the shop, while the outside space will serve as a public stage, providing both landscape and exhibition function. We try to find a rhythm of slow and peace in such a fast-paced city.
Turn Restricted Condition into Positive Thinking
Before our renovation, the original site was placed with potted plants and flags which were designed to separate the pedestrian and vehicles. Unfortunately, such public space does not appeal the pedestrian to stop for a while, this is a typical street section in China, safe but lack of vitality. Our design process was full of complications, from the stage version proposal approved by our client to the revised urban furniture version proposal requested by the fire department, under the restrictions of standard, usage, budget, timeline and various factors, we continued thinking and exploring our way out.
Exhibit Spatial Experience for User
We hope that the design of this group of furniture can be served as the supporting background to different activities and functions such as culinary experience, art exhibition, city jungle and etc. In order to have people experience the subtle changes between the space and themselves, the configuration is simply arranged by several rectangle structures but in different scales. The overlapping lines of the structures enframe a series of scenery, having the users themselves become the main character in the scenery, we hope to create and visualize the spatial experience for them.
Façade Design is the Expression of Seeing and Being Seen
The inspiration of the façade design comes from Edward Hopper’s masterpiece Nighthawks. The realistic painting depicts an all-night diner where three customers, all lost in their own thoughts, are close yet distance from each other. The depiction of the characters is so accurate and vivid that arouses us a philosophic thought on human isolation, we therefore hope to bring the sense of alienation back to an appropriate scale through such a store. A large plate of glass is a symbol of technological revolution, on the contrary, we want to achieve an experience of seeing and being seen through the fragmented façade.
Concise Feeling from Inward Stretched Façade
The interior design is the process of simplified and purified the façade. Apart from utility function, all the details are created to serve the purpose of making people feel comfortable. As the base color in the space, white is used for constructing the spatial structure, wood veneer is used for decorating the seat area and the color gray, somehow appropriately adorns the front desk and seat area that has the service function.
ONEXN Architects
Space is a medium to connect and reveal. Starting from this point of view, all of our thinking and practices in ONEXN lead to the essence of architecture, and that is exactly what ONE stands for. On the other hand, X stands for the multiple opportunities and challenges from unknown fields when our architectural thinking interacts with the external world and bring about transformations and reactions where we can make something different. We are not satisfied with the completion of a project, but want to realize the continuity of the context, and create places that are closely related to our life.
Starting from their devotion to architectural thinking and practicing, Bo Zhang and Jingjing Wang founded ONEXN Architects in Shenzhen in 2015. This multi-disciplinary team consists of professionals from different backgrounds including urban planners, architects, interior designers, and craftsperson. We emphasize on the integrality, innovativeness, and feasibility throughout the project cycle, through the multi-discipline cooperation, we aim to find the best solution in the process to balance many factors including concept, materials, technology, cost, construction, limitations. Systematic strategies are used to achieve cultural and spiritual spatial experience from the inspiration to finalization.
We keep an eye on the new phenomena and conflicts occurring in our city nowadays. We pay close attention to the urban villages evolving rapidly at their unique paces, the transformation of the aged industrial areas, the contemporary art communities, and novel economic entities that are burgeoning in the era of the Internet. We are responding to these issues with our systematic thinking and practice, and the thinking process based on sketches and modeling has been embedded in our daily life. We deeply believe that to respond to the emerging challenges and needs of our profession, the new design approach will be based on the process of research, extraction, introspection, and transformation.
