Xi Garden Art Office reinterprets the spirit of nomadic culture within an urban context

Vibrant and beneficial, biomorphic designs have evolved and cemented their role in the creative canvas of interiors, catering to our affinity towards living nature and its forms, accentuating and symbolic of the forms, patterns, textures, shapes and contours of its myriad organic elements. Such designs narrate organic spatialities, by conceiving built environments that manoeuvre moods to connect users to nature, through natural or simulated premises.

Citing one such inspiration, Chinese architectural firm PLAT ASIA was designated to design an art office located within an industrial campus in Beijing, China—the lead architect NANDIN and his design team introduced and imprinted a concept of ‘Nomad-in-Urban’ within its ‘experiential’ design, conceiving a workplace interior romanticised by choreographed lighting design and sculpted, fluid spaces that bleed in and out of each other, referencing elements of nature such as canyons, streams, deserts and cliffs.

The Chinese architects revoked the spaces’ former, old decorations, opening up a spatial frame with six spans and four rows of columns, wherein the entrance faced the north street, while its windows opened to the south and north, framing vistas of tranquil sceneries of the campus. To encapsulate the essence and joy of nomadic life rooted in nature, PLAT ASIA responded to the clients’ requirements by proposing a vibrant, spiritual, and inspiring space, planning a “journey from scenes to spirits,” as the interior designers point out.  

In Chinese culture, Xi means ‘joy’—"The idea behind the design is to create a space of freedom that triggers people’s creativity and imagination. In modern urban offices, most spaces are rather regular and dull, making people feel numb while working. So, the core of this design is to create excitement and a spiritual experience to let people unleash their energy and explore a new way of office space layout and experience,” NANDIN explains the meaning of the workspace’s moniker, as well as the core concept for its vibrant interior design.

Reinterpreting the spirit of nomadic culture in an urban context

For the design which gently fluctuates between the literal and metaphorical, the lead architect delved into two experimental directions—the first was a constructive configuration of the space that evaded a logical, conventional layout or composition, with theatrical spaces succinctly arranged and directed by systemised lighting to foster emotions.

“For instance, the illumination system creates different scenes, such as the art exhibition spaces specialised for sculptures and artworks,” he explains. The other route comprised a careful representation of nomad culture, where the design applied a dynamic model, an intelligent lighting system, and unique decoration materials, “to restore spirits in pursuit of the vigour and natural origins of and from nomadic cultures,” adds Nandin.  

With the biomorphic design of the office, PLAT ASIA attests to how the nomadic lifestyle is deeply entrenched in nature: Meandering and spirited, the interiors employ light’s effects on materials to simulate spatial experiences of winds, streams, and skies, while also symbolising deserts, steppes, rivers, and cliffs. The membraned, translucent ceiling affixed with brilliant blue lights and 'air-moving' aluminium slices replicate a modern, Mongolian yurt-like space and forms a Tangeri (“the great sky” in Mongolian) born in the steppe. The gently twisting corridors echo narrowed canyons, as the aluminium slices mimic the movement and appearance of water steams. The public space sets a big stage, its aesthetic referencing a rock sculpted by the wind, presenting and injecting a feeling of “dynamic wilderness into the urban context,” says NANDIN.  

Naturally, one of the protagonists of the office’s design was its carefully composed lighting—the ‘phenomenon of illumination’ here follows peoples’ behaviour, articulated through vividly coloured atmospheres. ‘Intensity and mystery’ are pumped into the interiors, courtesy of a pulse lighting system, eliciting unprecedented shapes and adjusted patterns, and in turn, shifting and manoeuvring the moods of the users. The ‘nomad-in-urban’ setting changes screens like in a contemporary theatre, between a blue sky and a starry night, within the art exhibition or party areas of the Xi Garden Art Office.

The sinuous and dramatic elements of the workplace design ensue at the entrance to the ‘canyon’ concealed behind a column; the variable lights lead visitors to a ‘visionary and futuristic’ space inside. The core of the Xi Garden Art Office (conceived and completed over two years) is retained in its public space zones that feature grand windows, and integrated spaces for gathering, staying, and dispersing, all inevitably ascribed with ‘nomadic behaviour.’

According to the Chinese designers, the art office achieves an experiential and dynamic nomadic space within a contemporary setting, vis a vis romantic light environments and a sleek, exploratory material palette comprising self-levelling cement, wooden flooring, artificial stone slats, fluorocarbon coatings, latex paint, air moving slices, stainless steel panels, wood grain veneers, curved frameless photoelectric glass, mirrored glass, glass railings, translucid finish membranes, reflective transfer films, and pulse lighting strips.

Nandin relays that the core value of nomadic life lies in its adaptation to varying environments, through a unique and particular way of life whereas modern life is more about adapting to different workspaces as well as different roles in urban settings, much more frequently. To merge the two lifestyles, so to speak, through the office’s contemporary design, was offered by means of a ‘free space’—"we can call it a nature full of excitement. The public space is like a dune, giving people an open area to sit anywhere, to become the core active space for the office,” he elaborates.

Owing to the clients’ requirement for a fully-fledged zone catering to massive brainstorming sessions and public lectures, PLAT ASIA proceeded to conceive a ‘visually flowing,’ expansive area where people could relax, get inspired, and feel rejuvenated with creative discussions in the art office. All spaces cite inspiration from nature, as witnessed in the gently sinuous staircase design and the dune-like canyon lobby, which references nomadic yurt spaces in a modern form.

As NANDIN shares, the entrance attempts to relax people as they enter the office from the hustle of urban life, sparking a spiritual energy of one’s own. As the wind caresses and rustles leave, the aluminium panels hanging from the wall are flexible in the wind, mimicking and creating a space in nature, “which we believe allows people to easily draw inner strength, as one would from nature,” he continues.  

"Our design philosophy is centred on caring about what people feel in a space, more than anything else. The space being friendly, welcoming, and inspiring becomes our starting point for each project. We hope we can create a more inspiring and energetic architectural space for people to enjoy and avoid sticking to just one typology. We tend to seek more possibilities, experimenting and trying more each time,” NANDIN comments.

Much like the nature of impermanence dominant to nomadic life, the striking, many-textured, and ultraviolet-hued interiors of the art office attest to an unconventional, evanescent spatiality, surprising its users and visitors at each turn, each shifting corridor, and each changing screen. PLAT ASIA’s design ethos of experimentation, crucial to most creative endeavours, renders the Xi Garden Art Office its own dynamic and bright personality, determined, creative, and inspiring.

Project Details

Name: Xi Garden Art Office
Location: Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
Area: 822 sqm
Year of completion: 2022
Designer: PLAT ASIA
Design team: NANDIN, Zhao Yanwen, Sun Ying
Construction design: JSD Studio – Li Ming, Zhang Rui
Construction company: Beijing Hai Lan construction – Zuo Lijun, Zhang Kaiyue, Yang Mingzhong
Lighting consultant & Supplier: SELTY Lighting – Zhang Zhenguo
Air moving slices supplier: Beijing MeiSiHua metal decoration co., Ltd.