LOVIVO gallery — Baicai Design

LOVIVO gallery

"Every moment points toward the future. In the digital age, the surge of information composed of infinite 0s and 1s reaches its limit; the moment of information explosion is the moment of re-understanding and re-architecting. Infinity and weightlessness—civilization steps through a door." — Baicai

Project Info:

Status: built, 2021
Area: 456 sqm
Client: LOVIVO gallery
Location: ShenYang
Photography: Topia Vision

Technology companies define the future. LOVIVO Gallery is a concept space on the first and second floors of Qianfan Jinghe. The spatial concept starts with technology, extracting "future" and "information explosion" as the core of its composition, from which a series of emotional touchpoints are derived: suspension, volume, infinity, metal, the unknown, and network. With technology advancing at a rapid pace today, humanity faces an infinite future and infinite unknowns. Technology companies must surely walk ahead as explorers on this path. No one can foresee the end of the road, but the continuous contemplation of this unknown proposition is the social responsibility of those working in technology. The significance of this space has nothing to do with beauty or ugliness; rather, it evokes a power to explore the unknown and a reverence for the infinite.

The project is located in the ancient city area of Shenyang, inside Huaiyuan Gate and next to the Imperial Palace, surrounded by buildings of classic Chinese charm. The site occupies the first and second floors of a building rich in traditional Chinese elements. The street-facing facade is narrow, but the depth is significant. Natural lighting conditions and the site's advantages as an exhibition space are less than ideal. In this context, we decided to use the conceptual spatial tension to engage in a dialogue with the environment.

By turning both sides into mirrored surfaces and utilizing the site's depth, the space is visually stretched into an infinite space. Combined with disordered white steel volumes, it creates a sense of infinity and weightlessness of information explosion, turning the site's disadvantages into advantages.

The concept of a grid runs throughout the entire space. For a de-materialized expression, each one-meter-square area within the white steel floor grid is composed of 100 randomly arranged 10-centimeter-square stone pieces, rendering a double-layer grid system. The white steel on the floor aligns seamlessly with the mirrored walls and the ceiling above. Lighting within the space is hidden in the ceiling gaps, and through careful beam angle calculations, the fixtures remain invisible while the light is visible. The language of lines contains the entire space while extending infinitely.

The north side of the first floor features a visually continuous LED screen that serves to display content and control circulation. Combined with the mirrors, it visually extends into infinity. Four of the LED screens can rotate. When closed, the space remains a complete infinite space. When rotated open, the circulation opens up, revealing the staircase to the upper floor and the meeting space on the first floor.

We carried out an overall renovation of the staircase from the 1st to the 4th floor of the entire building. The white steel handrail extends from the first floor to the fourth, forming a thin slice that runs through all four levels in spatial logic. While broadening the perceived width of the staircase, the white steel visually presents a "V" symbol from any vantage point, reinforcing the spatial signifier element.

The second floor is an activity and leisure area for company employees. The design continues the materials, the interlocking volumetric relationships, and the sense of disorder from the first floor. By leaving the floor plan undefined, the possibilities for spatial use are increased. Through the fragmented application of materials, fragments of interaction between people and the design concept are reflected.

The space forges a place of faith, delivering a message—about technology, about reverence, about the future.