Gold Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2022
I Do Emergent Arts Retail Space
- A' Design Award 2022 Gold Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: I Do (Hiersun Group)
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 30,792
- Verification code 79CD8410F9 · Verify this award
About I Do Emergent Arts Retail Space
The I Do artist store in Wuhan, China blends uniquely spatial and sculptural elements to create a highly expressive, enticing and inspiring user experience. At the center of the space, and protruding through the facade, a massive 9m steel sculpture rises from the first floor space and emerges on the second floor. Symbolically, the one to one scale elephant and figures represent the wisdom, strength and unity as a projection of the relationships which can be embodied by those visitors to the retail space.
Within the evolving landscape of contemporary retail design, Mo Zheng's I Do Emergent Arts Retail Space emerges as a compelling meditation on the dialogue between computational design methodologies and the timeless human desire for spaces that nurture contemplation and wonder. The interior demonstrates sophisticated command of parametric formal language, its undulating ceiling and wall surfaces generated through what appears to be algorithmic processes yet achieving organic warmth through careful calibration of proportion, material, and light. The central sculptural element, a monumental figure composed of interconnected cellular metal forms, establishes a poetic relationship between jewelry as body adornment and the human form itself, suggesting that the space celebrates not merely commercial transaction but the deeper cultural significance of personal ornamentation. Technical achievement manifests in the seamless integration of complex curved geometries with practical retail requirements, the flowing forms accommodating display furniture, lighting systems, and circulation patterns without compromising spatial poetry. The chromatic restraint to predominantly warm whites allows merchandise to command visual attention while the bronze-gold metallic elements create material kinship with jewelry products. One might observe how the layered ceiling forms evoke natural phenomena, perhaps the delicate strata of mineral formations or the unfurling petals of flowers, establishing subliminal associations with the preciousness and natural origins of gems. The preservation of visual connection to historic exterior architecture through generous windows grounds the contemporary intervention within urban context while flooding the space with natural light that enhances the luminous material palette. How does this environment transform the act of selecting jewelry into an experience of spatial wonder?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The I Do artist store in Wuhan, China blends uniquely spatial and sculptural elements to create a highly expressive, enticing and inspiring user experience. At the center of the space, and protruding through the façade, a massive 9m steel sculpture rises from the first floor space and emerges on the second floor.
Symbolically, the one to one scale elephant and figures represent the wisdom, strength and unity as a projection of the relationships which can be embodied by those visitors to the retail space. The sculpture is experienced through a variety of spatial relationships, as an iconic beacon within the larger outdoor public space, as a grandiose figure in the entry way, and intimately face to face with the figures on the second floor.
Custom fabricated displays and furniture are faceted features which stand in contrast to the curvilinear strip form of the walls and ceilings. Expressive of the discovery and extraction process, the geometric contrast in these elements creates a dialogue beyond the limitations of retail spaces. Presented as dichotomous elements yet metaphorically interdependent, the arrangement of these components of the space elevate the experience from retail to immersive artwork. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Retail Interiors: 16.4 x 14.7 m footprint, Ceiling Heights 5.7m, 4.9m
Sculptural Installation 4.2m x 2.7m x 9m
Façade 14m x 15.4m
Laser Cut Artist Feature 2.5m x 4.4m - Tags
- Digital Fabrication, Artificial Intelligence, Immersive, Conceptual, Future,
- Production Technology
- Utilizing customized in-house computational tools in tandem with wax 3d printing and investment casting, the fabrication of the sculpture creates a sparse yet highly structural lattice inspired by both cellular biology and the atomic structure of diamonds.
Expressing processes of terraforming, the walls and façade were produced through CNC milling and casting of Gypsum and GRC.
Faceted displays and furniture are manufactured through digital models, automated production and manual fabrication. - Design Challenge
- This project overcomes previous limitations in the fabrication of complex steel forms. Using a streamlined work flow from artificial intelligence to 3d printing to assembly, we redefined what was possible for highly precise, structurally responsive design. Working closely with several different fabricators throughout the design phase we were able to collaboratively develop novel method of streamlined workflow between AI and fabrication.
- Project Duration
- The project began in 2018, designed in Beijing, Fabricated in Wuhan and Shanghai and installed in Wuhan in 2021.
- Operation Flow
- Beyond the conceptual determinants of the design this project challenges the potential of architecture as a communicative language utilizing iconography, referential geometries and fabrication processes to express ideas through space. The work pushes the boundaries of digital to physical fabrication methods and scales resulting in a new means of experiencing retail space. Developing new workflows for fabrication, the project creates novel environments better capable of expression.
- Research
- This project involved a rigorous and intensive process of research into emerging capabilities of digital fabrication.
Our goal was to find a new methodology for the production of highly-precise and structurally and materially efficient bio-inspired geometries using recyclable and proven materials such as stainless steel.
Working closely with several fabricators and 3d printing innovators, we developed a process for the production of large-scale, bio-inspired cellular lattices. The design of the large sculptural piece for the store as a proof of concept for the future potential of architectural structural elements. The development algorithmically generated geometries for the execution of such a complex structure at this scale, presents a new paradigm for the use of structural materials like steel at an architectural scale. The algorithms written and developed by our design team use physics simulation engines to aid in the determination of bio-inspired geometries. These tools create a self-adapting localized densities of the lattice within the structure as determined by the global loading conditions of the form. This ensured that the 9 ton sculpture would be structurally sound, while also presenting a concept for the design of architectural structures which can use less material while creating more strength.
The precise means of fabrication involves the determination of a valence 4 network of members which defines the shell of the form as well as the interior lattice. Building upon recent developments into macro-cellular solids, this project presents a system which is cleanly adaptable to solids in which loading conditions may vary within the volume, and increases or decreases density based need, further saving material. Reinventing the conventional process of lost wax casting for steel, the elements are 3d printing in wax and cast with stainless steel. This process was developed and utilized after less successful experiments using wire arc additive manufacturing proved overly limiting in terms of precision and execution of desired geometries.
This work took on difficult scientific and engineering challenges as a means of opening new potentials for the conceptual and architectural presentation of space and form as metaphor. - Inspiration
- Responding to the program of the jewelry retail space, this project draws upon many of the symbolically referential elements related to the extraction, manufacture and distribution of rare stones. The attenuation of the walls, the sculpture and the geometric systems employed throughout the design serve to subtly draw attention to the larger ecosystem of this global economy. While we choose not to publicly or explicitly express our position as individuals, our intent is to promote awareness around the larger network inherent to the retail industry by presenting elements related to the production of goods. Beyond the physical artifacts within the space, the precise manifestation of these features are informed by processes incorporated in the production of goods. Lost-wax casting, carving and faceting are all presented as prominent design elements, while the translation of scale and utility suggest redefined meaning.
- Image Credits
- Copyrights belong to AntiStatics Architecture and I Do (Hiersun Group)
Photography belong to AntiStatics Architecture and Dachou Wang
Video Credits: Mo Zheng, AntiStatics, 2021 - Patents
- Copyrights belong to AntiStatics Architecture and I Do (Hiersun Group)
Colors of I Do Emergent Arts Retail Space
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