Puree — Baicai Design

Puree

Purée is a bakery brand focused on desserts, cakes, and coffee. Through this project, the brand aims to build a stable, everyday relationship with the local community. The shop is conceived as a neighborhood node—responding to its residential context while meeting operational needs, and forming an open, street-oriented space.

Project Info:

Status: built, 2026
Area: 105 sqm
Client: Puree
Location: Hangshou
Photography: Yifan Zhang

The site sits at a street-facing storefront within a residential area, with an open forecourt and a high interior ceiling. Instead of enclosing the space as a typical commercial interior, the design softens the boundary between inside and outside, integrating the exterior area into the spatial experience and shaping a plaza-like condition between street and community. The space is organized in an installation-like manner, structured around two main strategies. First, the bar counter is placed at the center, establishing a clear centripetal layout. Use unfolds around it in a circular pattern, creating an open and non-hierarchical public atmosphere. The second strategy addresses the division between operational and functional zones. A semi-transparent partition softly separates the space. On the ground floor, the kitchen, pastry area, and wash basin remain partially visible; the upper floor serves as storage, perceived through the translucent surface. This balance of distance and openness helps narrow the psychological gap between brand and visitor.

Material choices emphasize familiarity and everyday use: wood, glazed tiles, and greenery, combined with the existing base condition. Informal furniture further softens the space, allowing it to feel closer to daily life than a styled retail interior.

About

Baicai Design is a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York and Shenyang, working across architecture, interiors, exhibitions, and spatial design. Its practice spans different geographies, scales, and cultural contexts.

Founded by Kaiwen Zhao, Baicai is shaped by his interdisciplinary background in design and architecture. Zhao studied Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Architecture at the Yale School of Architecture. He currently teaches in the Department of Industrial Design at RISD, and has previously taught at the University of Colorado Denver, lectured at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and served as a guest critic at Syracuse University.

Baicai approaches space beyond the conventional boundaries of interior design, bringing together architectural and product design thinking to address spatial questions. Through different scales of intervention, we explore the relationships between space, objects, and human behavior.

New York:
540 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

Shenyang:
A07International Software Park, Shenyang, China

baicaidesignoffice@gmail.com

Awards

FRAME Wellness Space of the year Shortlisted
2026

Paris Design Awards Winner
2026

MUSE Design Awards Gold Winner
2026

Dezeen China Rising Firm of the Year
2025

POSITION Award China Best 100 Young Architect
2024

Guangzhou Design Week 40 Under 40
2024

AD China 100 YOUNG
2022-2024

Architizer Best Young Interior Design Firm Special Mention
2024

Forbes China 30 Under 30
2023

FRAME Small Residential of the year Shortlisted
2023

FRAME Award Best Emerging Designer Nominee
2023

APIDA Design Award Excellence Award
2023

FRAME Pop-up Store of the Year
2022

FRAME Window Display of the Year Shortlisted
2022

WYDF TOP 100 Designer
2022

Dezeen Award Shortlisted
2022

Architecture Masterprize Best of The Bests
2022

AD China 100 YOUNG
2020-2022

Architecture Masterprize Honorable Mention
2022

KUKAN Design Award Shortlisted
2022

DNA Award Winner in Workplace Design
2022

DNA Award Honorable Mention in Workplace Design
2022

DNA Award Honorable Mention in Showroom Design
2022

K-Design Award Winner
2022

Novum Design Award Gold Award
2022

Novum Design Award Silver Award
2022

IDA Design Award Honorable Mention
2022

FRAME Best of the Month
2022 April

Design for Asia Award Bronx Award
2021

Design for Asia Award Excellence Award
2021

IDEA Design Award Finalist
2021

Golden Pin Design Award Winner
2021

Golden Pin Design Award Honorable Mention
2022

Press

Baicai Design’s work has received international media coverage across architecture, design, fashion, and culture. The studio has been featured in publications including Gestalten, INTERIORS, AD China, FRAME, Interior Design China, My Home, and id+c, alongside leading global platforms such as Dezeen, Leibal, Architizer, Divisare, Vogue, ELLE China, Yatzer, Cosmopolitan, gooood, Archilovers, Designverse, and Archello.