Other — Baicai Design

Artist Loft

This project is a design of a loft apartment for an artist. It hopes to present life artistically and conceptualize habits into space. The design disassembles all the life functions and reconstructs. It digs down to the essence of the artists' work and life, assembling an inclusive system of individual living.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2023
Area: 40 sqm
Client: Artist Loft
Location: ShenYang
Photography: Topia Vision

The loft is divided into two parts: the creative zone and the living zone. The creative zone is entirely objective whereas the living zone is wholly subjective. They sit in comfortable examination of each other.

We built a space that resembles an ultimate art gallery. Everything inside makes up a big complicated “device” for living and behaviors for living leave traces everywhere. A line separates the different functions of the space, countering ultra-simplicity and ultra-complexity, creating tension in a small space.

The “device” embodies the human behaviors that legitimize our existence and it “edits” the relationships between our actions. The “device” is complex, abundant, and human. It is beyond definitions upon first glance but we understand through its rich details of usage.

We use the different surface heights to define functions, providing various visual and spatial possibilities. The couch, the counter and the stairs are combined into one entity, connecting the floor, bed, and desk on the second floor through the spiral staircase. Secondly, we put five meters of void structure in the bathroom so that natural light makes its way in. Finally, the entire space is lit by one light tube that is controlled by sections. Through blurring and connecting between the floors, the layout personifies a revision of actions that make up a completed “device”.

The completed project shows a space that is extremely individualized and intimate. It is quirky and free, as a vivid extension of the inhabitors' life.

15-2 WINDOW

Baicai's entire storefront is given over to the window. WINDOW SPACE is a boundless space for outputting ideas. It will host regular exhibitions, sharing fun things and interesting thoughts. White light breaking through the grayscale, an unadorned exterior—letting content become the facade.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2021
Area: 206 sqm
Client: BaiCai
Location: ShenYang
Photography: Topia Vision

The project is located on the first floor of a residential building over twenty years old, with a brick-concrete structure. During the design process, in order to achieve a 25-square-meter fully glazed display facade, we made significant structural modifications to the exterior. We removed two existing structural columns, excavated the foundation down to the original soil layer, and reinstalled columns on both sides. Upper and lower beams were poured to form a stable grid structure, creating a clean facade while avoiding the risk of settlement caused by the weight of the large glass panels. The entrance and equipment partitions were pushed to the outside of the columns on the facade to be concealed, making the window the sole visual focal point.

At the end of an 8-meter-deep narrow corridor beside the WINDOW is a hidden door, which opens into Baicai's office space. The long corridor and hidden door allow the art space and the studio to exist independently, yet connect in a more intimate way.

The overall atmosphere of the space is Baicai's base palette: snow white and snow gray. The studio retains the original beams and columns; all other walls and cabinets are white, creating warmth and comfort through the display of content.

To ensure visual transparency and depth, bookshelves and glass are used to define zones and circulation, naturally delineating the workspace, activity area, pantry, and office.

We hope Baicai is a space with light—one that is content-rich and creative, yet also logical and free.

Our Golf

OUR Golf Studio is a premium private golf training space offering professional instruction, state-of-the-art equipment, and a comfortable, service-focused environment for an exceptional training experience.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2024
Area: 110 sqm
Client: Our Golf
Location: Shenyang
Photography: Topia Vision

The project is located in a prime Shenyang area, with a street-facing storefront by the lake. Surrounded by towering buildings on one side and tranquil lake views on the other, the space aims to blend professionalism with relaxation, offering golfers a unique and balanced experience.

The site's irregular, slanted layout is divided by a central load-bearing wall, creating constraints. Within this limited space, we need to incorporate two golf simulators, a fitness zone, and a reception lounge.

Given the space's lakeside location, we aim to maximize the connection between the interior and exterior, bringing the greenery of the outdoors into the space. We want people to perceive the professionalism of the training and the comfort of the environment from the outside looking in. We used full glass windows on the façade to showcase the bar area, fitness zone, and one simulator, while positioning the main training room behind the auxiliary room for added privacy. This layout ensures guest comfort while reinforcing the brand's presence externally.

We combined travertine and metal to balance softness with strength, elegance with professionalism, and comfort with dynamism. Travertine's warm texture and soft curves highlight the sport's grace, while metal conveys precision, with equipment embedded in metal structures and storage hidden behind slatted panels.

Sensors, projectors, and the IT training control system were integrated into the design from the outset to ensure an optimal user experience. Our goal is for the space to embody the professionalism, social aspects, elegance, and entertainment qualities of golf.

Residence 21

The project is located in the city center of Shenyang, where the neighborhood is filled with a mature, lived-in atmosphere. The clients are a family of three. We readjusted the original floor plan into a new layout with two suites. Regular volumetric interpenetration and interaction form a unified interior language, creating a living experience with a sense of order and ritual.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2022
Area: 232 sqm
Location: Shenyang
Photography: Topia Vision

The living room features windows on two sides, offering unobstructed, excellent city views. The open-plan layout accommodates a multifunctional living area, dining area, and western kitchen. The space is exceptionally open and airy, and this transparency connects with the drifting clouds above the high-rise and the nature of the wind. The overall palette pairs off-white artistic coating and marble with small accents of leather and fabric, composing the modern texture of the living room. Geometric structures, line proportions, and the combination of various materials achieve visual balance, allowing one to fully enjoy the understated sophistication it brings.

In terms of spatial layout, each functional space transitions through the connection and transformation of materials. The living room extends outward as a white, transparent "square box," while the kitchen recedes inward as a dark, metallic "box." The water purification system and central appliances that need to be hidden are all tucked into a utility room, connected to the kitchen by a concealed door, granting the space a sense of control. A minimal material palette, rich details, and a transparent quality—this is our understanding and pursuit of pure space.

The entrance space connects northward to the study, bedroom suite, walk-in closet, and vanity area. Materials actively distinguish the active and quiet zones through texture and color.

The master suite's theme color points to an elegant blue, echoed in the bedding, sofa, and art paintings. Sunlight filters through the sheer curtains, quietly spilling in. It transitions subtly within a delicate scale, exuding a lingering, elegant aura that is calm, natural, and slowly unfolds. When materials are pushed to their absolute limit, no additional decoration is needed. The beauty of the material itself is the original beauty, and further combed by fine, dense light, it becomes even more touching.

The secondary bedroom has a deeper, more subdued overall atmosphere. By controlling the proportion of materials used, a rhythmic balance is achieved, bringing a tranquil and warm ambiance. The relationship between each area remains semi-open, once again emphasizing an open and free living experience. Above the vanity in the bathroom, a strip of translucent glass blocks introduces natural light, opening up light sharing and emotional flow within the bedroom suite. Just a small touch, yet it greatly enhances comfort.

The warm gray study expresses the beauty of rationality in a tranquil tone. Simple forms often possess purer aesthetic characteristics, such as the ingenious interpenetration of volumes and the cross-shaped light strip embedded in the curved ceiling, which unexpectedly adds a playful touch. We aimed to reduce surface furnishings to achieve an "empty" atmosphere, designing concealed storage functions to free up more public space.

Upstate Home 04

This is a family residence located in New York State. Without overt decorative narratives, it seeks to convey a sense of warmth through details—natural light, the soft texture of wood, and the seasonal rhythms of greenery and the garden come together to shape an everyday landscape.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2024
Area: 433 sqm
Location: New York State
Photography: Yizhen Zhu

Located in the suburbs of upstate New York and surrounded by nature, the landscape feels like a natural extension of the house. Generous greenery was preserved to maintain a sense of visual and spatial continuity between indoors and out.

White louvered shutters soften the sunlight, while pale gray and warm beige walls complement each other to create a space that feels clean yet full. Subtle textures—linen, wool, rattan—weave through the rooms, tying each corner together with quiet warmth.

The living and dining areas are designed as open, flexible spaces centered around the sofa, fireplace, and long dining table. It's a place where family and friends can gather warmly or quietly enjoy their own moments.

This is a home without overtly curated "design moments," yet it responds to daily life through subtle details—the warm touch of the wooden stair railing, dappled afternoon light on the stone floor, books and instruments quietly placed in corners—all lending a sense of ease and fullness to everyday living.

There is no deliberate complexity in the design—only a quiet response to the home's natural scale and layout. Through the warmth of materials and thoughtful furniture details, we aimed to create a sense of home. More than comfort, we hope residents find moments of connection and joy with loved ones woven into the everyday.

Reshape Space

Reshape Space is located within a shopping mall in the bustling area of Orchard Road in Singapore, serving as an offline composite space that combines fitness and education. It aims to create a youthful and vibrant learning space through strategic spatial planning.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2021
Area: 337 sqm
Client: Reshape Academy
Location: Singapore

In our floor plan, we have separated the fitness and training instruction spaces through the reception area at the entrance, allowing each space to function independently without disturbing the other. We analyzed the level of activity within the space and planned the layout through zoning methods to accommodate different uses.

We have dedicated the entire 180-degree corner floor-to-ceiling window area to the open learning zone, maximizing natural light and a sense of openness, which aligns more closely with the space's free and open orientation. The fitness area is located in the rectangular space to the left of the entrance. We have naturally planned out the equipment zone, the treadmill training area, and the free weight area based on the dimensions of all the equipment.

The spatial orientation is aimed at being youthful, vibrant, healthy, and growth-oriented. We have selected bright yellow as the dominant color, threading it through different spaces as a guiding motif. Yellow serves as the color for spatial floor guidance, aesthetic embellishments within the space, and is also integrated into the color scheme of the fitness equipment. Our hope is for the final presentation to be both distinctive and cohesive, creating a harmonious space for interaction and learning.

Xie collection

The Xie Collection draws inspiration from the structural language of traditional Chinese wooden furniture, exploring how these forms might evolve in a contemporary context. The research focuses on the relationships between forces, cultural context, material properties, and structure, and how they shape the transformation of furniture.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2020

In traditional Chinese furniture, form, expression, and structure are inseparable and mutually reinforcing. Many decorative elements originated from the need for stability, efficient use of materials, and an understanding of wood’s natural properties. Rather than reproducing complex traditional joinery, we introduce contemporary fabrication methods to explore a possible continuation of these interdependent relationships.

We exaggerate the key structural junctions of each piece and fabricate these components in brass. Their deliberate prominence draws attention to the forces acting upon each connection and the relationship between the elements of the overall frame.

The collection comprises a lounge chair, a bench, a floor lamp, and a dressing table. Each piece is conceived as an object for the periphery of a domestic interior. Together, they introduce a way of living that draws on an inward-looking Eastern sensibility while engaging in dialogue with the contemporary home.

Residence 06

This is an apartment renovation project by Baicai Studio. The homeowner wanted to create a unique home environment that stands out in the countless cookie cutter commercial designs within a budget. With specific color schemes and custom-made requests, we kept most of the basic furnishing and used a variety of other ways to build the ambience.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2023
Area: 170 sqm
Location: Shenyang
Photography: Topia Vision

The original furnishing used a lot of stone and wooden materials of dark colors. The apartment faces southeast with medium amount of natural light. The homeowner hopes to have a space that is bright and warm. We decided to use wood veneer and beige wall-covering, combined with light-colored furniture to reverse the original ambience that's more of luxury and maturity. We wanted to build a space that matches the owner's energy, young, independent and hip.

To accommodate a large book collection, we took out the stone wall in the living room, and put in a wall of bookshelves. We used carpeting to cover the stone floors, making the space significantly warmer and softer for leisure. We redesigned the lighting scheme of the space, installing more antidazzle downlights. With this adjustment, watt usage is down 80% from the original design. The new design creates priority lighting, adds layers to the space, and maximizes coziness with dim lights when night time comes.

The kitchen area required major renovation. Keeping the original plumbing and electricity, we custom made everything else. The original dark grey floor tiles were replaced with light stone, coordinating with the rest of the home. The half-enclosed kitchen was remodeled to be an open kitchen, increasing storage room significantly. A kitchen island is placed in the middle of the area, serving both kitchen needs and as a six-people dining table. It satisfies the homeowner's interest in cooking as well as increasing its possibilities for other purposes.

We put a platform in the bedroom, that combines the functions of the bed, the bed stool and the nightstand, breaking the patterns of a traditional bedroom layout. A home shows all the sides of someone's character. Through this renovation project, we shed the texture of the original furnishing through redefining layers in the space and dematerializing. We built a universe that belonged to one.

Planter lamp

Planter as a floor lamp presents another possibility for what magnetic rail lighting can be. The design completely subverts what traditional magnetic rail lighting is, connecting it to the ideogram of an actual flowerpot. It aims to express an attitude of subversion, absurdity and irony.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2022

The product can be powered by a cord or a rechargeable battery. The design includes a flat surface for small objects, applicable in many environments. The design maintains the flexibility of a magnetic rail lighting. It allows the user to rearrange parts for different purposes easily. The light is then in existence in multiple ways that satisfies the user’s self-defined needs. The symbol of a flowerpot sculpturizes such a lamp, mixing it deep into life and letting it construct the space.