LOCATION: XuhuiDistrict, Shanghai|
TYPE: Office|
SCALE: 120 sqm|
DESIGN/ BUILT: 2008 / 2008|
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jeremy San|
The project site is an old house located in a typical Shanghai lane neighborhood. The house is estimated to be seventy to eighty years old. The original design features a touch of modernist streamline techniques combined with some Chinese detailing. The most distinctive feature of the old house is its garden, which is difficult to see in its entirety from the outside. Everyone who comes to this old house is deeply attracted by the space and tranquility of the garden. The studio renovation design aimed to preserve as much of the original old house atmosphere as possible, restoring it to its former glory while maximizing the embrace of the garden view to maintain a seamless visual relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces. The renovation retained the original plaster ceiling details, restored the cast-iron glass doors at the main hall entrance, repolished and varnished the wooden floors, and painted the originally deep red wooden door frames white to brighten the interior space. The most significant alteration in the renovation was replacing a window on the west wing facade of the studio with frosted glass. This frosted glass allows light to pass through while giving the exterior lane space a new image and hint, reflecting the architects' relentless work status day and night.