Project: Red Apple Ideal Living Space Experience Hall
Architects: BDSD Boundless Design
Location: Shenzhen, China
Area: 16,145 sf
Year: 2024
Photographs by: Hanmo Vision Ye Song
Red Apple Ideal Living Space Experience Hall by BDSD Boundless Design
In a place like southern Guangdong in China, the four seasons are not distinct, and sometimes it is difficult to tell the passage of time from the trees and think it is still, but in a site that has grown for more than 40 years, you will find signs of natural life that are extremely vibrant.
The shadows of the trees roam the walls, the treetops peek out of the windows, the branches grow unchecked, and the new leaves set off again after winter…… Everything is constantly changing, and people and places are also looking for a more tacit and balanced way to get along.
Site, Traces of Time
This is the headquarters park of Hong Kong home furnishing brand Red Apple in Shenzhen, and after more than 40 years, the site has become a witness of time. When the designers of BDSD walked into the main building of the park for the first time, the sedate, vicissitudes and prosperity of vitality were its most profound traces.
In the past two years, Red Apple Furniture has ushered in a new stage of development, and the original architectural form and office space have also reached the time to show a new look. This time, BDSD’s design tasks includes the entrance on the 2nd floor, the cultural hall and the living space experience hall on the 5th floor.
“Sitting on the steps, the sunlight passed through the shredded leaves, casting dappled shadows, and the leaves began to shake when the wind blew, as if time was still in sight. Then I saw the old machine placed at the door, mottled rust, this is a brand with a history of more than 40 years. When this building was first built, many of the structural details were actually very well done. We wanted to be able to retain the ‘sense of time’ and thus achieve the thickness of the building. Lin Wenke, founder of BDSD Boundless Design, said.
The function of the entrance of the original main building is not clear, and the pedestrian and electric vehicles are not separated, which weakens the sense of ritual and brand image of entering the building. BDSD Boundless Design attaches great importance to the combination and symbiosis between the entrance of the building and the surrounding environment, and re-establishes the visual and behavioral flow of people through the separation of people and vehicles, the planning of functions, the processing of details and gaps, the scattering of plants, and the reset of the steps and levels.
The building forms a new dialogue and integration relationship with the surrounding environment, with people, and with indoor and outdoor, constituting the characteristics of an open place, enhancing the sense of order of the site, and also reflecting the humility of the building.
A Cultural Hall, Lithe as an Art Museum
The interior renovation of the cultural hall includes machine display and the Red Apple corporate culture corridor. The focus of the renovation is: based on the characteristics of the site, the original deep and complex space becomes breathable and stretched, making the space more friendly, so as to show the friendliness of the brand.
BDSD Boundless Design has updated the original glass doors, narrowing the distance between indoor and outdoor with floor-to-ceiling glass. Change the complex interface relationship of the original interior, unify the material, and balance the spatial state between opening and closing; Cancel the original indoor plant trough; Enhance the sense of order; Let the natural light and artificial light work together perfectly to create a clean and light visual effect.
In terms of unified interface and material, the designer chose glass bricks, which not only ensure good lighting, but also effectively shield the complex outdoor park environment. The details of the wall are hooked, so that the large area of white space of the wall becomes breathable and stretched, and the vision continues to extend.
When the plants cast green light and shadow on the glass bricks, rhythmically sprinkled into the room, with the change of time, forming different light and shadow, forming a more lithe, elegant and poetic space atmosphere.
In this open space posture, the communication between people becomes more flexible, forming a variety of spatial use scenarios. The entire indoor environment is effectively separated from the outside world, leaving only peace and tranquility.
The designer elongated the original short steps to form a complete plane, extracted the brand color of Red Apple, and formed a three-dimensional architecture embedded in the space, forming a strong visual impact with the concise brand logo and strengthening the brand image.
In the part of the corporate culture corridor, the designers have created a simple, but inward-looking open space, which continues the light and shadow connection with the exterior through glass bricks, where the main narrator is light. The light guides people forward, echoing the corporate story told on the wall, so that every employee and visitor has a deeper emotional identity with the brand.
New Brand Exhibition Hall, A Flowing Picture of Life
Located on the 5th floor, the Red Apple Ideal Living Space Experience Hall is the focus of the design, and BDSD Boundless Design defines the new exhibition hall as “a place for placing utensils”, “a place for realizing functions”, and “a place for human activities” based on the brand’s latest product concept of “Integrating Space and Utensils”, so as to realize the harmony and unity of space, utensils and people.
The 5th floor is the office and reception area of Red Apple, which is huge in scale, and is surrounded by water systems and plant planting areas around the site. In the complex site environment, BDSD Boundless Design chose a simple square box to respond, with “internal architecture”, “harmony” and “permeability” as the core keywords of the overall construction and aesthetics, which not only does not destroy the architectural structure of the original site, but also looks for unity in the chaos, and can well emphasize the function of the new exhibition hall.
Stepping out of the elevator, a complete and concise brand logo wall is impressively presented in front of you. The hollow square is taken from the graphic logo of the first generation of the original brand’s logo, echoing the Chinese word “ε¨(Utensils)”, and interpreting the brand’s concept of “Integrating Space and Utensils” with shape.
The suspended wall makes the square box appear lighter, intersecting with the longitudinal wood veneer wall, creating a relaxed and natural field temperament, the interesting appearance breaks the dull shape, and the extended wooden base forms an interactive relationship between people and space.
Walking around the outside of the box, the long horizontal windows attract the eye. In Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoy, he proposed that the “long horizontal window” is one of the five elements of modern architecture, which does not require load-bearing, and the facade can be opened up in large areas, bringing excellent lighting and transparent views.
On the square box of the new exhibition hall, the designer uses a long horizontal window to realize the interactive function of inside and outside. The oppressive feeling of the large area of the wall is eliminated, and the facade effect is more flexible, and the viewing channel is quietly opened in a very calm way.
When people look outward from the inside , the ground and top environment are obscured from the line of sight, making the garden the main body, realizing the scene of symbiosis between man and nature. When people walk outside the building, the different chapters and themes of the indoor home experience hall are presented in front of them in turn, the scene changes, just like a picture of contemporary people’s life slowly opens in front of them.
Turning along the horizontal window and extending to another entrance, the narrow window becomes an open doorway. The entire facade is de-formalized to achieve the unity of structure, spatial boundaries, architectural skeletons and surfaces, and create a sense of lithe through the light strip under the wall. The ever-changing wall structure enriches the shape of the interior building, builds multiple relationships with the large site environment, and creates a variety of experiences for human behavior.
Architecture, a Container for Life
The interior of the square box is divided into the following areas according to the function: entrance brand culture display area, situation space, single product display, combination display, model space, and office space. The space is blocked but not separated, forming a complete migratory line.
“The most important thing about the interior space is to inspire a new sense of experience, to fully experience the details of the product, and at the same time, to present Red Apple’s vision of ‘Bring Warm and Comfort to Every Home’ through multiple life scenes, encouraging visitors to interact with the product and space in a relaxed way. It is also a flexible and reconfigurable display space for future use. “Lin Wenke said.
In the brand culture display area, the art installation made of mortise and tenon structure not only expresses the ingenuity of a furniture brand manufacturer, but also becomes a wonderful space partition.
As a commercial exhibition space, it is the core requirements to create a multi-functional composite exhibition hall that integrates culture, products, display, salon, experience and office in the interior, and is convenient for online and offline publicity. It is the spiritual demand of the brand to convey the warmth of home through the exhibition hall, pay attention to the privacy and personalization of the scene, and integrate the space, utensils and people’s lives.
BDSD Boundless Design has been working in residential space design and commercial space design for a long time, and is well versed in constructing external space and spiritual space.
With elegant materials and warm colors, it highlights the interpretation of “warm and comfort” of Red Apple’s new furniture products, enhances the visual connection between the indoor space and the surrounding natural environment, creates a harmonious and quiet indoor atmosphere, and creates a sense of field in the living space.
In such a space, people can walk freely, choose a comfortable chair to sit in the relaxing natural light atmosphere, feel the wind blowing in through the exterior window of the building, through the long window of the square box, the sound of turbulent water is endless, and enjoy the natural beauty of the indoor courtyard, an inexplicable sense of security and belonging arises spontaneously.
-Project description and images provided by BDSD
Plans
