Formerly known as Beijing textile warehouse, a factory with red-brick walls and pitch roof built in the 1960s has been transformed into a new showroom for a young domestic furniture brand, ZIIN. Atelier tao+c sought to balance the relation between existing site with the new function, exhibition and sale, background and objects by placing two intersecting square frameworks, which were rotated 45 degrees to detached from the original four walls, and formed independent nested buildings in a building.
photo credit © Wen Studio
Capsule Hotel and Bookstore in Village Qinglongwu is located in the deep forests of Tonglu in Zhejiang province. It was an old house of wood structure and mud walls, covering an area of 232 sqm and a height of 7.2 meters. Atelier tao+c redesigned and regenerated this old building by inserting a capsule hotel that can accommodate 20 people, a community bookstore and library.
The architects made restrained openings on the exterior wall to maintain the original simplicity of the building. The original floors and partition walls were removed, opened the ground floor for library, placed two independent “floating” structure above the open spaces, which will be used separately for male and female guests. Each of the male and female “buildings” is equipped with ten capsule rooms and one bathroom. The modular capsule rooms are hidden and enclosed by bookshelves, giving more privacy to the accommodation area. At the same time, the staggering floor slabs formed a few “double-height” spaces in the accommodation areas,it is also where people’s point of sight is above the floor height.
Given the amazing natural landscape at the east end of the building, the architect cut the whole gable wall on this side and embedded a transparent structure of wooden frames and corrugated polycarbonate panels, introducing the green of the mountains and forests into the interior. At twilight, the whole building is illuminated by the light from the indoor, and the building itself becomes a light house, offering a slice of warmth to the calmness of the night.
photo credit © Su Shengliang
Located on the ground floor of an old garden house, it’s a U-shape room with a full-faceted semi-circular window facing the back garden.
The 42sqm room was once the ballroom of the house and then a couple lived in it for decades, eventually moved out. How to revive an original single function room to meet new need of living is a problem faced by many vacant rooms as such.
The architect inserted a huge composite piece of furniture or a micro “furniturisation” architecture into the room. The rich interface formed by the interweaving of concrete blocks absorbs the surface and plane of daily life into complex structures, thereby obtaining a looser space for activities. A 42 sqm room results with a living room in 11 sqm, kitchen and dining room in 20 sqm, a bathroom in 4 sqm, a foyer with wardrobe in 5 qm, a bedroom in 15 sqm and a study in 4 sqm.
In this project, the function of walls and floors was replaced by furniture, which became a reduced kind architectural miniature.
photo credit © Tian Fangfang
The owner of the bookstore and the designer reached a common understanding that the bookstore should not only be a storage room for books, but also should be a place for people to involving in , collecting social memories, and absorbing knowledge.
Every bookshelf, seat, and lamp in the Common Reader Bookstore are specifically designed for each book and conform to human’s reading behaviors. The unconventional oblique angles on the bookshelves cater to the reader‘s gesture of grasping and putting down books; The different seats pander to provide diverse ways for readers to sit down and stay. Atelier tao+c seized the opportunity to probe into human’s reading behaviors, as that the designer planned to curate an immersed experience for readers to re-concentrate on reading. The strategy is to reduce unnecessary objects, except for bookshelves, display tables, seats, reading lights, and curtains, there are no other elements standing in the room. The dark-tone woods lined with bright green were introduced to evoke people’s memories of the old-time libraries, strengthen the clam ambiance that encourages readers to stay in, to sit down, read, and write.
For the exhibition – “The Clash Of Ideas” curated by Violet Wang and 卷宗Wallpaper＊ Venue: Power Station of Art
The project was to remodel a 1930s’ lane house. The design team dealt with a discreet surgical approach, cutting a slim opening in the center of house, reminds one of the typical narrow light shaft in those small southern traditional houses. Carefully preserving and exposing parts of the wooden structure, balancing the relation between old and new. The project evokes a sense of southern Chinese vernacular dwelling with modern architectural language.
Instead of adding more space, the architects took an opposite approach- cutting a slim opening from ground floor to roof between the split and the main floors in the middle of the east side bay.By implanting such a light shaft, allows the celebration of air and light and also interweaves the split floors, enriches the spatial experience of domesticity.
In the I.S.S Normandy Apartments designed by the Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec. Atelier TAO+C was commissioned to renovate a small flat on the top floor of the building. Different from the conventional organization of a home which celebrate a living room and bedroom as the main space in China, the proposal calls for the perception of space that break the usual patterns of domesticity – study room as the engine place of everyday life. React to the diagonal line of the bookshelves and the envelope of building, a small elevated attic along the corner was introduced to break down the homogenous space of a flat level. There are many levels of reading spaces and the corners of meditating, and layers of seeing and to be seen. Surrounded by the bookshelves, a space inhabited with serenity by books, object and men was inscribed.
photo credit © Shen Zhonghai, Santiago Barrio
It’s an internal reading room for a team, a shared study room among a group of friends. A third space between public and private, living and working.
On the ground floor of a 1980s house, there are two vacant rooms enclosed by load-bearing brick walls and next to a glasshouse in the courtyard. Atelier tao+c converted those three separated rooms into a united place where accommodates a dozen people to read together at the same time and suitable to hold small lectures within.
On ground floor of a 1930’s old house in Shanghai, atelier tao+c transformed the former residential space into a boutique retail space for SPMA.
The renovation is not only about refurbishing the surface, also involves a series of strategy to intervene into the space based on the internal structure and the characteristics of the building itself. The architect inserted volumes and components made of various new material into the house without touching the existing walls, combining the texture layers of the old building to expose the narrative between the clothing and architectural space.
In the process of renovate the old house with the new texture, the construction marks and substructures were revealed. Just like the exposed stitching, lining and stitching on clothes, the methods of building repairs and the new insertion are directly displayed.
On the ground floor of an anonymous 80s housing, We rent a small residence and transformed it into a studio to accommodate the new function of living and working. With the growth of the studio, we rent two rooms next to former one step by step, by eliminating the walls in between the backyards, result in an elongated backyard with two glass boxes with slim frames to connect three isolated working spaces.
we seek to make light touch and adjustments with humble materials, to maintain flexibility of interior space and grow along with the pattern of neighborhood, to shed light on the spatial strangeness found within mundane housing typologies. The process of making, take form from inside and grow to the fabric of building, suggested a mode of dwelling and working in tune with the modern condition of changeability and transparency.
photo credit © Su Shengliang, Chen Hao, Zhu Hai
our office space.
Located in a banal shopping mall in Zhengzhou, In this project, Atelier tao+c boldly applied washed granolithic plaster as the main material for interior walls and floors. A greyscale palette of two materials – the washed granolithic plaster juxtaposed with brushed stainless steel, one is rough and dull while the other is sterile and reflective, which formed an austere monochrome space for this two-stories men-wear select shop.
Reusing this once-popular yet forgotten material, the architects seek to evoke memories of the most dynamic and creative era and city to convey a more “local” sense of the street. Responding to the owners’ request to feature domestic fashion brands in the space and promote local young designers.
Shine Moda is tailor-made bridal brand based in Shanghai, we are invited to design their first flagship store.
The project aims to weaken the concept of an exhibiting and shopping hall, employed the minimalist architectural language generates a strong sense of order, thereby a space with a classical atmosphere to convey a feeling of permanence and purity.evokes a sense of ritual and serene, reminiscence an image of a chapel.
photo credit © Shen Zhonghai
photo credit © Xia Zhi
The bookstore has rich functions, including a bar, a coffee shop, a reading area, another reading area for children, and an auditorium. Instead of adding partitions for each space, the designer integrated the existing irregular column grid and placed modular cells in angled matrix to maximize the order of the layout; following the plan of modular cells, the designer inserted arched and rectangular door openings to form a continuous interlacing relationship from the sectional view, and poetic panorama of infinite repetition. The panels on the ceiling are installed in correspondence to the cells on the layout, clearly outlining the relationship between the plan and the elevation, the arc and the straight line. An array of rectangular door openings formed a corridor at the north exit, emphasizing the ritual of “entering” the bookstore, and the transition from the chaos outside to the tranquility of the exterior.
Located within the site of an old minery factory in Shanghai, Atelier tao+c has transformed an old 435 square-meter warehouse into a minimal, yet unique continuum with open spatial design.
the designer’s erected two walls that run across the full length of the interior so the space was divided into three bays in 1: 2: 1 scale. The mezzanine floor between the two newly-built walls was designed to accommodate the furniture display. The floor slab cantilevered out from the openings on the wall forms the indoor balconies situated on both sides of the aisles. All the newly inserted walls and floors are lined with black terrazzo. Some circle and semi-circle shapes are carved out of the floor and the walls.
Along the original narrow bomber windows on the roof, the designer added a white cone volume to support the roof and draw the sunlight into the space, which makes the windows become a skylight amplification device.
Dark green, honeydew and white marble blocks, interspersed with accents of orange acrylic and blue metal, the first concept store designed by atelier tao+c for an emerging watch assembly brand MOMIC (Moments of Magic), Through using the contrast and collision of space and material, to express the modern contradictions contained in the watch. The shapes of display stands are divided according to the elaborated planned paths. Customers are immediately guided by the paths generated by different “props”, inviting them to establish their own shopping order. Different material texture has been incorporated to express the sense of time collision, which is also suitable for displaying different sets of watches. The luminous wall and the glossy mirror hovering over the ceiling blurred the boundary of the space in between, created a soft and fuzzy atmosphere which reminds us of Kubrick’s retro-futurism aesthetics.
photo credit © Zhu Hai
It is a small shop, which specializes in traditional Cantonese dessert use lotus seeds as the main ingredient. The designer intends to recall the memories of a traditional street food stall with simple contemporary design language.
Accommodated the kitchen, bar and seating area within 20 square meters.The ceiling and wall above the datum line were painted in green，with the finish of maple plywood, creating an atmosphere of bright and fresh as the flavor of the dessert.
photo credit © Guan Li
photo credit © Huang Xuan
Atelier tao+c
Founding year: 2016 Co-founders: Tao Liu，Chunyan Cai Work contents: Architectural design / Interior design / Furniture design Address: 2f, No.97 Moganshan Road, Shanghai, 200060 China
Founded in 2016, the design works of Atelier tao+c ranging from a piece of pendant lamp to a compound development, from the interior of small urban apartments to the renovation of old rural houses, from shops on the street to a youth community. Parallel with the practical works, the office has involved with research and teaching, focus on subjects such as revival of old buildings and objects in domestic landscape.
Regardless a wide range of scales and programs, we tackle with careful investigations and research, tapping into a better understanding on typology. The design method is semi-architectural semi-interior, retreating to the inner world, allowing the space to grow from the inside and break through the perimeter, intermediating the inside and outside.
Our projects are executed with humble and ordinary materials but the precise detailing elevate the mundane. Employing simple and elementary forms, clear proportions and surprising sectional variations, to produce an exquisite sense of scale alongside the overall object as well as within the spaces. Carefully arranged the spatial choreography, work together to produce adaptable relationships between object and man, light and time.
The practice seeks to explore the beauty of everyday life, pick up the evocative clues, rediscovering values hidden in simplicity and allow life to unfold to us all its complexities.
With the intention of making a lighting as an architectural element rather than an ornament, Atelier tao+c reduced the lamp to a minimal form – a linear light glowing inside a crystal glass tube. The led light is concealed in a delicate black metal strip which pierces through the cylindrical section. The elegant line and simple shape might reminisce one of an elongated lantern – an ancient Asian illumination in Asia or an enlarged electron tube, evoking a sense of both traditional and contemporary.
97-2 Moganshan Road Shanghai 200060
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