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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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