This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a modern fitness centre which proves that working out can be a stylish experience! The circular reception area is surrounded by wooden grids which curve towards the ceiling, meeting at the centre. This arresting design feature acts as a point of focus, creating instant visual intrigue as you enter into the space. A feeling of openness is created by circling multicoloured glass which is designed to divide (but not completely separate) internal spaces with its transparency. The glass panels also add an air modernity and vibrancy as the light shines through, casting colourful shadows. Huge semicircular lampshades and sturdy triangular prisms also punctuate the space. Other features include black iron artwork studded with metal rivets and cement walls clad in wood which come together to create an industrial aesthetic and evoke the feeling of strength.
SBID Awards: Healthcare and Wellness Design finalist sponsored by Stone Federation
Company: The XDH Design Firm
Project: Five Fitsport
Location: Guangxi, China
What was the client’s brief?
Five Fitsport is located on the fifth floor of the National Film City in Nanning ASEAN Business District, Guangxi. It is a fitness centre combining sports and leisure, with an area of 3578㎡.
What inspired the interior design of the project?
The design inspiration of the project was to combine the strength of fitness with materials in the form of an industrial style, so as to express the theme of exercise. The space is interspersed with coloured ground glass, reflecting light and shadows to convey movement and the rhythm of the movement.
What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?
The most difficult obstacle to be overcome in the project was that the overall design needed to optimise the structure by combining the factors such as mechanics and considering the connection and grade of steel structures to achieve the practicability of the structure.
What was your team’s highlight of the project?
The highlight of the project is that the design scheme of the space is fully open plan but zoned in a creative way using coloured glass, so the design fits the modern yet industrial aesthetic with design elements which introduce colour and vibrancy. The special design feature of the suspended ceiling in the fitness area also adds to the visual focus.
Why did you enter the SBID Awards?
The SBID International Design Awards is one of the most prestigious and interesting activities in the industry, and the competition is also very fierce. Participating in such a competition has been a very interesting and valuable experience for us!
Questions answered by Denver Hsu, Chief designer at The XDH Design Firm
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring SBID Award winners for the sustainable retail design for cosmetic brand, Lush with the opening of their largest global store in Liverpool, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Healthcare and Wellness design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
SBID Awards 2019 | Healthcare & Wellness Design finalist sponsored by Stone Federation
Matt Robb, Digital Media Executive at Stone Federation shares how 100 years of experience in the natural stone industry help them guide, support and inform design professionals when specifying stone for their projects. Keep scrolling to find out more about the SBID International Design Awards sponsor for the Healthcare & Wellness Design category.
What are the origins of your brand?
Stone Federation has existed in various guises for over a century. We have over 100 years’ experience in the natural stone industry with the longstanding goal of connecting specifiers with the very best materials and companies. There has always been a need for an independent body to champion natural stone and to promote best practice within the industry and in this way, the activity and aims of the Federation have stayed the same while the methods and markets have developed.
How do you work with interior designers?
Our work with interior designers is primarily focused around connecting them the best materials and companies for their project. We have a wealth of free design and technical resources to help design professionals take full advantage of the potential that natural stone provides. We also connect interior designers with the member companies who are best placed to service their specific requirements.
What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?
Natural stone has a rich history of providing interior designers with a wealth of options in both texture and colour. The natural stone sector has a high value for best practice and education and works hard to ensure that we provide specifiers with the right information for the materials they use.
How does your offering enhance an interior designer’s projects?
As the independent natural stone source point, we connect interior designers with a wealth of technical resources, stone sourcing guidance and opportunities to connect with suppliers.
What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests?
We’ve seen an encouraging increase in the number of specifiers placing a higher value on materials that deliver not only the required aesthetic but also the ethical and sustainable assurances that more and more clients are looking for.
Why did you want to become a sponsor for the SBID Awards?
SBID and Stone Federation have a strong working relationship built upon a mutual desire to promote best practice and education within the design and architectural sectors. There is a natural synergy between interior designers and the vast design potential that natural stone provides.
Sponsorship for the SBID International Design Awards 2020 is now open.
To find out more about becoming an SBID Awards sponsor next year click here or email [email protected]
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features the SBID Award winning project for Development Sales Centres. For this project, Matrix Design was able to combine traditional elements to imbue the contemporary space with historical elegance. With neat sequences of stone wall stitching, splicing and carefully planned lighting, the space evokes a strong sense of luxury. Applying geometric vision to the use of shapes, site lines and the square caisson ceiling feature elevates the environment with powerful perspectives, while decorations like the floating book pages makes it feel like the visitor is entering a new dimension; like the pathway of a time traveller, entering into a timeless space.
SBID Awards: Development Sales Centre winner sponsored by Vessel Gallery
Company: Matrix Design
Project: Gemdale Fenghua International Sales Center Nanjing
Location: Jiangsu, China
Fenghua series is one of the three high-end product lines of Gemdale Group. This project is located in Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, China. The design concept of the client was to build an art museum with a modern, Oriental aesthetic to experience international fashion, which is differentiated and artistic on the basis of traditional Chinese design and style.
In the whole project design, light is the main source of inspiration. As a poetic architectural language, it also becomes a kind of virtual material of space composition. The designers want to make the space full of personality and fully mobilise the emotion of customers through the ingenious construction. The Pantheon cast light from the hollow of the dome, creating a mysterious atmosphere. This classic work makes people feel the real existence of space. Based on this effect, we presented a scene of light shooting into the interior above the sand table area at the centre of the project.
The difficulty of the design in this case was the choice of style. In order to achieve this style, the design team needed to find ways to relieve the ‘cold’ feeling of the interior which is due to the white/neutral colour scheme, vastness of spaces and modern architectural language, whilst staying true to the original design brief; to add cultural character.
Elements of traditional culture can be found incorporated into the design which endows the modern space with historic elegance. Achieving this brief was certainly a highlight, however key features in the design also stood out to me. The geometry and grandness of the square caisson ceiling is powerful and energetic with a complex layered structure extending up into the dome. Also, the installation of floating book pages cascading down the staircase as it creates the feeling that you are time-travelling into a new, timeless space.
We entered through the recommendation of our culture agency DESIGNKEEPER who informed us of the SBID Awards and the prestige associated with this accolade. In view of the confidence and satisfaction of this project, and the hope to know our own level and shortcomings through a fair competition with excellent design teams from all over the world, we participated in this competition.
Questions answered by Liu Jianhui, Wang Guan and Wang Zhaobao of Matrix Design
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring SBID Award winners for Restaurant Design with the playful charm and intoxicating narrative of famous Italian chef, Massimo Bottura, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Development design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
SBID Awards 2019 | Development Sales Centre Winner sponsored by Vessel Gallery
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features the first photography exhibit for famed Toronto photographer, Elie Kimbembe who became personal photographer to The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Banks and Selena Gomez. Stacklab collaborated closely with Elie on the design of the ‘Solo’ exhibition which combined themes such as discovery and immersion, creating a sense of intimacy and interpersonal connection. The main gallery features a series of vaulted chambers, made up of a regular arrangement of diffusely lit fabric wells.
Sector: Public Space Design
Company: STACKLAB
Project: #Solo
We collaborated closely with acclaimed photographer, Elie Kimbembe on the design of his first solo exhibition. A social media icon, Elie was interested in creating a new gallery ‘type’ that offered a contemplative and interactive art viewing experience for the digital art consumer (in contrast to the ephemeral and solitary way his art is typically consumed). #Solo combined themes like discovery and immersion with intimacy and interpersonal connection.
The main gallery featured a series of eight vaulted chambers, made up of a regular arrangement of fifteen diffusely lit elastane wells. Harnessing Einstein’s theories on the curvature of space, each ‘well’ appeared to have been stretched from the top-down, emitting a deluge of ultrasonic mist across the luminous floor plane. Contrasted against the gravity of the conic piers, Sixteen of Elie’s photographs hung, back-to-back, in the quiet, vaporous space between them.
The bold, tectonic wells, each measuring 13 feet in diameter, framed and illuminated Elie’s photographs while obstructing others outside of the viewer’s direct sight line. This served a dual purpose of compelling the viewer to circulate the exhibit and created moments of intimacy between themselves, the art, and other observers.
In addition to carrying diffuse light throughout the exhibition space, the ultrasonic mist served two key, performative roles. Firstly, the mist elevated the visible ground plane to further frame the photographs within the vaults. Mostly, however, it precipitated a slow and calming pace to the circulation of viewers within the space. We designed this temporal aspect of the exhibition to answer one of the artist’s primary objectives – “to give people a chance to really interact with the work, and each other”.
The toughest hurdle was time. The quality of the effect we created was significantly improved on thorough iterative prototyping over a very short period. #Solo was fabricated in less than 30 days. On-site installation took a group of six two days, including calibrating the mist medium to the space. Take down took 12 hours, as will re-installation for subsequent uses.
Achieving specific cost targets, addressing the nuances of the artist’s brief, and (specifically with respect to mist) referencing our project sponsor, Up Cannabis’s signature medium- vapor – as a gateway to creativity were our key highlights of the project.
Questions answered by Jeffrey Forrest, Founder of STACKLAB
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a kitchen design inspired by clean and minimal styles from Scandinavia, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Public Space design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
SBID caught up with this year’s SBID International Design Awards sponsor for the Public Space Design category. Dominik Cienciala, Business Development Manager at Sans Souci talks about how the Czech provider of tailor-made light fixtures use their refined skill, expertise and drive for innovation in the art of decorative glass fixtures to deliver superior lighting and glass solutions for interior designers.
Sans Souci is a Czech designer, solution maker and producer of decorative glass lighting fixtures, glass objects and architectural features. Our know-how combines many years of experience, knowledge of blending traditional production of crystal installations with latest technologies such as nano-coating, as well as 3D printing. Our bespoke installations can be found across the world, from the USA to Japan, either in hotels, private residencies or super yachts.
We closely cooperate with interior designers from the beginning until the end of a project. The company has representatives across the world, who are experts in glass objects, lighting and delivering the best solutions. Our aim is to collect information about a project through personal meetings and discussions over mood boards. Our internal designers work alongside with clients and we develop visualisations and concepts together. Then we deliver drawings, final solutions and moving to our production. We focus on smooth and effective cooperation which leads to stunning installations and the client’s satisfaction.
Sans Souci is understood as an explorer and visionary in the glass industry. Our vision is to deliver great and quick service with innovative solutions. Therefore, we educate designers and partners about our capabilities as well as latest technologies. For instance, our nano-coating technology uplifts the characteristics of glass with practical features such as anti-reflex properties and unique colour finishes.
We are flexible and quickly responding to the demands. In close cooperation with our production in the Crystal Valley in the Czech Republic, we give immediate answers about the production feasibility. Also, our trained representatives are capable of delivering immediate solutions and benefits of crystal finishes. We also believe that crystal and natural light plays a significant role in lighting up the spaces and designers/clients can benefit from our know-how, uniqueness, flexibility and follow the latest trends in natural settings of interiors.
Our cooperation started 7 years ago and its an honour for us. Through this opportunity we believe we can raise the visibility of Czech crystal production beyond the Czech republic and educate the world about our heritage, tradition and innovation.
The SBID International Design Awards winners for 2019 will be announced on Friday 25th October!
To book a table to attend this year’s prestigious Awards, click here
To find out more about sponsoring the SBID International Design Awards next year, click here
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features the immersive metaphor for managed forests and the future of renewable construction designed in a collaboration between STACKLAB, Community Agency, and Great Gulf. This public space design presents an abstracted representation of a house being gradually overgrown by a nascent pine forest. At the centre of the 60-square-metre exhibit, a twig-wrapped base-building column acts as the figurative tree trunk. Suspended around it were the ‘leaves’: 4,085 glass test tubes, filled with soil and pine saplings, hanging from a CNC-milled birch plywood trellis bolted to the existing concrete ceiling. The Lightframe display system integrates programmable multi-colour LEDs within reconfigurable structural aluminium modules, allowing for infinitely customisable spatial forms and lighting patterns. That attribute was exploited to make Wild Abode an immersive, multi-sensory experience, with slowly undulating waves of light from the LEDs timed to simulate a body’s breathing and heartbeat.
Project: Wild Abode
Location: Toronto, Canada
The Wild Abode is a collaboration between Stacklab and a Community Agency in Toronto for visionary developer, Great Gulf. It was Launched at the inaugural EDIT festival; The Expo for Design, Innovation, and Technology in Toronto from 28th September to 8th October 2017.
Great Gulf asked our partnering firms to demonstrate their leadership in efficient, and environmentally-sustainable-construction systems.
This was an immersive metaphor for managed forests and the future of renewable construction – a living, breathing, growing attraction, beautifully and starkly contrasted by an efficient, integrated building system.
The Wild Abode features the first public launch of Stacklab project’s prototypic “Lightframe” system, which they developed in collaboration with architect, and University of Waterloo professor, Jonathan Enns in 2015 and 2016. Wild Abode used the Lightframe system to present an abstracted home being gradually consumed by a nascent pine forest. Arrayed around a central, sculptural tree trunk made of salvaged twigs, were 4870 pine saplings and soil in test tubes, ready to be planted for later use as a renewable building material. The Lightframe prototype was programmed with slowly undulating waves of light from the LEDs, timed to simulate a body’s breathing and heartbeat. The scale of the Lightframe module’s 8 by 8-foot bay relates comfortably to the human body. The dimensions permit easy, flat-pack shipping, and hauling inside a standard elevator. All of the Wild Abode exhibit components fit inside an 18-wheeler truck.
Lightframe is a modular, structural lighting system – a design that strategically alters an existing, pre-engineered German-made aluminium extrusion. These modifications took over a year to develop successfully. Once designed, they enabled the creation of a new series of four standard modular lightbars, each embedded with complex wiring runs and LEDs. Each lightbar is individually addressable and is programmed from a central computer.
We wanted to see a genuine confidence in an informed return to the basics. Our audience reported that they felt energised about the future of smart, sustainable building systems and encouraged by the scope of the research surrounding it.
We feel that SBID is committed to recognising meaningful design innovation, and often brings industry leaders together to engage in provocative discourse that is relevant across many disciplines.
Questions answered by Jeffrey Forrest, Founder of STACKLAB.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring an office overflowing with inspirations to help spark the imaginations of clients in search of creative ideas, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s pubic space design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
SBID International Design Awards 2018 Finalist | Public Space Design category sponsored by Sans Souci
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features stunning CGI visualisations for a 12-apartment residential building located 100 metres from the sandy coastline of the Baltic Sea. Neoklasika designed a welcoming entry lobby and hallways for the project; enclosed by the pine forest, the glass facade of the building lets nature flow in through the windows. The elegant proportions, nuanced colour palette and natural materials give the gallery-like interior a timeless touch. The lobby will work as an in-house library and host temporary art exhibitions and installations to give a dynamic atmosphere. The 3D model includes full interior visualisation of three floors and the surrounding landscape. The masterful and accurate representation of the interior project and the visualisation of the lighting scenography in both day and night-time views invites the viewer to imagine the future lobby in great detail and at different times of day.
Company: Neoklasika
Project: ER Clubhouse
Project Location: Jurmala, Latvia
Neoklasika was commissioned to design a welcoming entry lobby and hallways for a twelve apartment residential building located hundred meters from the sandy coastline of the Baltic Sea. The lobby is planned to function as an in-house library and to host temporary art exhibitions, providing a dynamic creative ambience and contemporary space.
Being enclosed by a pine forest, the glass facade lets the nature enter through the windows. The inspiration of drawing visual parallels to the shapes and textures of the surrounding coastline landscape came quite naturally. The elegant proportions, nuanced colour palette and natural materials give the gallery – like interior a timeless touch. The wooden wall panels and the metallic structural beams resemble the tree trunks in the nearby forest, the mirror and glass reflections resemble ever-changing water surface and the light stone floor brings the feeling of seaside into the interior. Passing through the lobby, the art-déco-inspired leather furniture is reminiscent of seashells washed up on the shore.
We wanted to reflect the dynamics between the inside and outside to the maximum, showcasing the essence of the project. An intricate 3D model was created to visualise the multi-layered composition of materials, interior elements and colours. It includes full interior visualisation of three floors and the surrounding landscape. The representation of the interior project and the visualisation of the lighting scenography in day and night-time views invite to imagine the future lobby in the greatest detail. Detailing and modelling the vast amount of interior details, custom-made elements and furniture in our in-house rendering studio was a time-consuming but very rewarding part of the project.
Achieving the balance between the grand scale of the lobby with a light and welcoming atmosphere was a personal success. One of the main project goals was to create a space which acts as a platform for highlighting the dynamics of the surrounding nature. The large mirror panel was used strategically to reflect the changes in seasons and the weather, creating an ever-evolving live painting.
Why did you enter the SBID International Design Awards?
Neoklasika has been taking part in the SBID International Design Awards since 2015 and over the years seen SBID become a truly global, diverse and highly professional institution uniting the best industry experts. Each year the awards competition showcases the best of the interior design world and we are honoured to be a part of this community. Last year’s event was remarkable in its warm and welcoming atmosphere and the attention to detail in all the networking events was exceptional. The number of world-class companies that have taken part is an indicator of the quality and reputation of this event in the design world.
Questions answered by Karina Abike, Founder of Neoklaika
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a unique public space designed to create a world-class visitor facility for Triumph Motorcycles, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s CGI visualisation for public space design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
Neoklasika | SBID International Design Awards
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a unique public space design for Triumph Motorcycles. Studio MB collaborated with Triumph Motorcycles to create a world-class visitor facility within the heart of its Hinckley factory in Leicestershire. The Triumph Factory Visitor Experience is a site of pilgrimage for motorcycle enthusiasts and the general public, offering an inspiring and informative 1,200-square-metre exhibition and factory tour, including café and shop. The exhibition presents a chronology of Triumph’s historic and contemporary achievements in motorcycle design, engineering and manufacture. It offers visitors a deeper appreciation of the authentic heritage and ongoing success of this genuine British icon and international super brand. The exhibition connects with existing riders and captures the imagination of new customers, telling a passionate story of Triumph Motorcycles by the people who make them and by the people who ride them. Studio MB was responsible for delivering this brand experience, from master planning to onsite completion as a design and build package.
Company: Studio MB
Project: Triumph Factory Visitor Experience
Project Location: Hinckley, United Kingdom
Triumph Motorcycles approached us with a view to creating a factory tour and visitor experience that would be a world-class, built for purpose ‘home’ for the brand and a destination to welcome the ‘pilgrimage’ of motorcycle enthusiasts and the general public from all over the UK and around world.
The visit was to include an inspiring, involving and informing 1,200m2 exhibition set over two floors plus two distinct styles of factory tour – one tour Monday to Thursday when the line is operational, and one special ‘behind the scenes’ tour at weekends when the factory line is not running. There was also to be an excellent café serving quality food and drink plus rider appropriate visitor facilities.
Put simply, Triumph did. There is so much to Triumph – from its genuine racing pedigree, engineering and technological precision to a real sense of ‘Hollywood cool’. There’s also a rebellious side to the brands DNA which has propelled its popularity and coupled with a history of iconic design has led to the bikes being favoured for customisation. The new bikes have proven no exception with sublime detailing and qualitative finishes. So it really wasn’t difficult to find inspiration for the design of this new, inspiring public space in all of that.
It was sometimes difficult for the client to understand the bespoke nature of what we do and the process we undertake. Triumph have a very talented team who live and breathe their trade, spending a lot of time in research and development before they release a bike to the public. They look for fully resolved designs and hard data to back their process for rider focused products. We are rarely given the time frames or the budgets to do R&D for projects and our process is not only user-centric but also narrative-driven so it was important to ensure the project didn’t lose sight of this. We always look to provide bespoke projects for our clients, yet our vision for a project is still informed by past experience. We use this to guide our decision-making and detailing without always reflecting this progression in up-to-the-minute visualisation and sampling. I think this was a struggle for them to understand at times, so we had to ensure we reassured them on that front.
It was really satisfying seeing the client’s reaction to the finished project and the how well it was received by the public. As you can imagine they pulled out all the stops for the opening and the reaction from everyone was really positive right from the off. Creating displays for some true icons such as Steve McQueen’s Triumph TR6 from ‘The Great Escape’ was definitely a highlight – you don’t get much cooler that that!
It was an award we had never entered before and as SBID has an international standing we thought it would be good to see how our work on the Triumph Factory Visitor Experience fared on an international stage.
Questions answered by Ally Hickson, Senior 3D Designer at Studio MB
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring the restoration of a dilapidated department store for an inspiring design practice, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s public space design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
Studio MB | SBID International Design Awards
The SBID Awards 2019 is officially open for submissions. Paving the way for a new wave of innovative and exciting project entries across the industry; from Healthcare and Hotel Public Space to Retail Design and Residential, designers and design practices world-wide will once again compete for the chance to claim a prestigious SBID Award and receive global recognition in a ceremony that is set to be bigger and better than ever before.
We caught up with Firas Alsahin, Design Director for 4Space Interior Design, the Dubai-based interior design and architecture firm – and not to mention last year’s esteemed Overall Winner for the SBID Awards 2018. Find out what he had to say about his experience receiving the highest accolade in not only the SBID Awards, but the wider interior design industry for their project, VR Park Dubai Mall.
What does it mean for you to have been named the ‘Overall Winner’ at the SBID International Design Awards?
It was truly an honour to be named as the Overall Winner at the SBID Awards. It gave us leverage in getting new, potential clients. It widened our network and gave us the chance to promote our name internationally. The team’s hard work finally paid off!
How did you find the entry process when submitting your project for an SBID Award?
It was easy and very straightforward. The SBID team helped us in every step. Emails and notifications were received to ensure that we were updated throughout the process. They even called us to check the status of our submission and give different options. SBID has an excellent team indeed!
Did you expect to be announced as SBID’s ‘Overall Winner’ for 2018?
We expected to win on a category level as we were confident about the project we submitted, but announcing to be the SBID Awards Overall Winner was very overwhelming. Our team was shocked and speechless when we heard 4Space – it took time for it to totally sink in!
Has winning the Overall Winner Award resulted in any additional interest / project enquiries for your practice?
Yes, definitely! It gave us this position in the market where we are now recognised widely in the design industry. It opened a lot of opportunities locally and abroad because of the additional media coverage. The network became huge for us as a lot of big names and companies in the industry gave us the limelight. The results were, and still continue to be amazing.
Do you have any exciting projects you are working on / have completed since last year’s Awards that you’d like to enter this year?
Oh yes! We have around 3-5 projects that we will be submitting to the SBID Awards this year. We are very excited and will be looking forward to the next event.
What advice would you give to any designers or design studios who are considering entering for an SBID Award?
Focus on the entire submission process. Details are very important – from the sketch to renderings, up to the final photos (professional and high quality). A great story of the design is a must! We started as being shortlisted. Every time we submit an entry, we are always confident that we will win. But regardless of the result, what’s important is that you believe in your team and that you appreciate their hard work. The event itself makes you a winner already. From the venue to the management, everything is perfectly planned. Public voting and social media give each entry a chance to be exposed worldwide. SBID offers a great opportunity to all designers or design studios (big or small) to showcase their skills.
The deadline for entries into the SBID Awards 2019 is Monday 8th July.
To see more SBID Award winners from 2018, click here.
For more information about how to enter, visit www.sbidawards.com
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features an inspiring and thoughtfully designed children’s educational centre and a picture book library. With health and safety for the educational centre and library a priority, the education-centric design incorporates features such as air monitoring, hand disinfection stations, temperature monitoring and strict security. In additional, all materials are eco-friendly, non-toxic and child-friendly. From the strictly monitored entrance, children can explore the space by following colours and ‘flight routes’ to arrive at their destination. The interior is equipped with children’s toilets, drinking fountains and features to assist the children in their personal development. Besides meeting the need for children to play freely, safely and happily, the design also ensures parents have a relaxing and elegant environment in which they can rest, read and enjoy a coffee break.
Sector: Education Design
Company: Taipei Base Design Center
Project: Dou Dou Education Center
Project Location: Shanghai, China
“Fantasy Works” is a newly-established company, with the sub-brands of Fantasyland, which combines child fun and modern technology and of Dou Dou, which is separated into the two series of early childhood education and picture books. The major appeals include the collection of over 10,000 picture books and over 2,000 English picture books. The books of National Geographic Learning are introduced to Shanghai for the first time together with S.T.E.M. The future prospect is to open branches all over China through direct selling, franchising, authorisation or brand cooperation.
Nothing “hard” can be found in Dou Dou Fun Reading Forest Picture Book Library. The differentiation in the content, service, and environment has been achieved. The super-large area, huge number of books, and cross-field cooperation have all manifested the positive attitude, or ambition, to become the best of the best. It will become a model in China. However, we also saw parents have loving interactions with their children on the furniture, which were designed to be sat on “uprightly,” to indulge themselves in the stories of the picture books. We have also seen some parents just leave their children to the guiding teachers and take time for themselves to go shopping. For TBDC, the value judgement of the parents and the way to educate their children are the keys to deciding whether the space is beautiful and was the driving force for inspiring the final design of the project.
This project is located at the central of the Zen Himalayas Center, Shanghai. It was essential that the original ceiling, wall and floor remain intact during the project development; therefore, we employed props which can be used in random combination to satisfy all kinds of functions, as well as lower the cost and shorten time.
The point of the education design focuses on the space being exclusively for children. Besides the basic elements of safety and sanitation, there are also proper arrangements for the operation flow and all kinds of activities, whilst catering to the needs of all ages. Seeing the impact this space has on the children and parents who are using it brings us the greatest sense of achievement.
The SBID International Design Awards is one of the most prestigious interior design awards, which recognises the excellence of interior designs. It would be an honour to be recognised by SBID International Design Awards, which will prove TBDC and our project to be an inspiring and high calibre project within the high standard of the industry. Also TBDC hope that Asian design and the Asian market can be seen and appreciated worldwide. TBDC are more than overjoyed to be chosen as this week’s Project of The Week.
Questions answered by Janus Huang and Roy Huang, Chief Designers of Taipei Base Design Center
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring the biggest Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics store in the world, situated in the heart of Liverpool, click here to see more.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s education design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
Taipei Base Design Center | SBID International Design Awards
Image credits: Zhong Han
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