Songwu — Baicai Design

Project

Retail
Cultural
Restaurants and Bar
Cafe and Bakery
Other

Songwu

Songwu is a café and restaurant space located in Hangzhou. We hope it is more than a place of consumption — a place where one can pause, stay, and experience a brief moment of calm amid the city’s fast rhythm.

Credits

Project information:

Status: built, 2025
Area: 104 sqm
Client: Songwu
Location: HangZhou
Photography: Zhang YiFan

The project is located in Qiantan Li, a newly developed area in Shanghai. The store occupies the ground floor with three street-facing façades and excellent visibility. By retaining the existing floor and ceiling, we aimed to create a space that reflects the brand’s tone through furnishings and display installations.

“Each person is an island,” yet here, we hope the islands come together. We took the idea of an archipelago as the spatial metaphor, linking the interior zones through a series of articulated volumes. They remain distinct, yet softly connected.

The front area is open and lively. Toward the back, we designed movable chairs that guests can take outside — blurring the boundary between indoor and street life, and giving the place a sense of community and freedom. The spatial rhythm is intentionally slowed down. From the turning corner at the entrance to the long table deep inside, the circulation unfolds through pauses and gentle shifts rather than a straight line. This rhythm allows the space to breathe, and every shift of view carries a quiet sense of ease.

Material choices are deliberately restrained. Wood, tile, and cement form the primary palette, with subtle touches of metal and fabric woven in. The space avoids excessive decoration, allowing everyday warmth to unfold naturally in its details.

The design of Songwu is a reflection on gathering and connection. Rather than creating a space defined by form, we sought to keep it fluid and open — a place where fleeting moments of life can once again be felt in the play of light and shadow.

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.

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

Vestibulum Inceptos Gravida, Ornare Review,
by Tincidunt Nisl
2024

Ullamcorper Faucibus (Congue) Euismod, by Ligula Parturient, Bibendum Review Porta Libero
2023

Dictumst Tristique, Facilisis Magazine, Edition Two, Porta Libero
2021

Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020

Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020

Press