The original brick structure is composed of a main warehouse and three annex buildings, plus a courtyard garden. For projects like this, Neri&Hu’s strategy always begins with a thorough investigation of what parts of the building at present may be kept and restored, while any new additions should not only respect the existing, but also stand in contrast to it, so that a clear distinction may be drawn between old and new.

The design concept is inspired in part by the client’s main product, traditional Chinese style pastries often formed in a decorative mold — the notion that a container may hold or form the shape of its contents within. Here, a new cast concrete object is molded into the old brick shell, its various openings and negative spaces form the main retail, gallery and office spaces. After pouring the concrete and allowing it to cure, specialized craftsmen then bush-hammer it for a soft textural quality that both contrasts with and also compliments the old bricks. In certain moments, the new inner concrete will seep out and appear on the façade to fill in the voids or indicate new access points. The gap spaces between the new object and the original shell become flexible areas for a café and multipurpose lobby. The ground floor contains the exhibition area, the flagship store, the garden and the cafe while the second floor is mainly the head office.

Text provided by the architect.

The carefully curated structure also groups homogeneous rooms in a continuous sequence organized in two sets of identical columns, wherein one designated room leads into another. This route brings, both for different events and spontaneous gatherings, flexible places with different possibilities.

The negative space, in between the existing brick walls and the new frameworks, flows along the perimeter, introducing the notion of “semi-interior and semi-exterior”. On the mezzanine floor, the unexpected space of a triangle balcony, pergolas, and staircase was adaptively molded into the newly inserted dwelling according to the circulation, becoming interesting elements embedded in the project. The staircase has been placed in a rather constricted area, ‘seeping out’ purposefully and generating a glass box on the fade in a triangle shape, thus the tension between architectural boundaries and interior components could be revealed. These scattered structural elements were employed as an integration while detached from one another, presenting their independence and similarities.

Atelier tao+c aspires to capture the authentic craft of construction and express the narrative of the structure itself. From the steel structure, timber frame, and the substructure of walls to the assembled finish panels, every component is visible and traceable. Each layer of the structure was superimposed during construction, amplified from the steel floor decks to the I-beam, the ducts, the piping layer, and the dropped ceiling, simulating layers of the earth, clear and identifiable to the viewer. They are both the structure and the finish, recording both the design process and the construction process, vividly telling the story of how the frameworks were built.

Common industrial materials, particularly standard steel beams, profiles, timber, and bricks, make up the finish of the project structure regardless of cost and grading, roughness, or smoothness. By adopting this material selection, we aspire to eliminate the hierarchy, simultaneously making no distinctions in Ziin Store. The inherited character of ordinary materials was studied and their juxtaposition was re-combined on one elevation, narrating an embodiment of every detail design while projecting a warm and fun scene. This is an effective cost-control project that uses basic formal logic, mundane materials, and construction techniques to deliver a deep expression of adaptive reuse space and details.

Text provided by the architect.