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Design for All the

Senses

ATELIER LAI

“ Good design can ‘talk’, which connect the inside and outside attracted Ma’s
and his team’s attention. Their result is
is like a language system that
interprets everything through
human senses: vision, hearing, Meiren Kao, a traditional architecture struc-
ture widely seen in Huizhou residence
touch, smell, and taste,” shared Dao Ma, houses. “Once we found a standing point, a
lead designer of Atelier Lai, based in Shang- series of modern design elements would be
hai, China. proposed and adopted to help with the de-
Committing itself to creating unique velopment from concept to feasible design
architecture and space, the design company plan.” Meiren Kao can be regarded as a wall
has renovated and designed five coffee and system, which brings the indoor and outdoor
tea shops since its establishment in 2013. spaces together, though different from nor-
Interestingly, all of them are located in tra- mal doors and windows. It’s like a space
ditional Chinese residence houses. where your body is partly indoors and part-
ly outdoors.
Traditional and Contemporary If you enter T Roof, you will feel its
traditional core with a hint of modern touch-
Located in Taoyuan Village, Qimen es. The supporting columns and beams show
County of Anhui Province in China, T Roof the skeleton of the building while the inclin-
is a newly renovated public space by Atelier ing angle of columns, along with the stairway
Lai, which serves as a coffee shop, part of leading to the upper floor, remind you of the
the new local tourism facilities. “It (coffee) elegant Meiren Kao when you see it from the
is a new emerging thing to the ancient vil- outside. The long narrow sky window invites
lage,” Ma pointed out. In fact, the tradition- natural light into the coffee shop, bringing
al Huizhou village has a history of 800 years. the warmth of nature. Ma shared: “Coffee
“It would be inappropriate if we designed it shop itself is very inclusive, which can be
like what we do in a big city,” Ma explained. added to businesses like bookshops, muse-
“For us, the design concept should be based ums, train/bus stations, guesthouses, etc.
on and originate from the local with just The combo business mode will make coffee
contemporary add-ons.” as an add-on but have a longer ‘life’.” How-
As the renovation of old buildings ever, coffee didn’t derive from China nor
heavily lies in the inner space design (with- does it have a long history there. How can it
out much change to the outer wall), how to be embedded into this ancient house?

Warm Pavilion (Photo / Xuguo Tang)

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