Stefano Boeri, two redevelopment projects in Beijing

The development of China that, in the past few years, has risen to become a leading economic power, has involved several sectors and implied deep changes in the requests of the internal market, where local consumers are paying more and more attention to quality. This trend involves several sectors and led to new strategic international cooperation projects to offer new tools and innovative services. The programme of an important Chinese holding company active in the distribution of high-quality international design products is indeed the result of all that. The company appointed Stefano Boeri Architetti China to realise two redevelopment projects in Beijing.
The architectural studio, directed by architects Stefano Boeri and Yibo Xu, redesigned the façade of the Easyhome Lize New Retail Experience Mall and the interiors of the Easyhome Top Design Center, a centre exhibiting Italian excellences in the fields of design, interior design and architecture.

The new façade of the Easyhome Lize New Retail Experience Mall of Beijing is not a two-dimensional element, a curtain-wall system or a variation of this system, created according to models deriving from the Anglo-Saxon world and replicated all around the world. Indeed, the new three-dimensional façade is a stratified and complex design element that, according to the architects, interacts with the history and urban landscape of the involved area of Beijing.
The entire Easyhome Lize New Retail Experience Mall is devoted to “Made in Italy” furniture. Its façade is cladded by large white rectangular panels in GRC, a composite material made of cement and glass fibre. Vertical, full-height panels completely clad the perimeter of the building, scanning a musical rhythm. It is an apparently monumental solution, recalling Italian Rationalism and breaking up the huge unitary mass of the complex. By continuing with our musical analogy, one could say that the architects added in their symphony a series of elements creating variations on the theme, such as a curvature at a corner, a lean off-set portal and dark glass reflecting surfaces. These elements become a metaphor of the differences and complexity characterising a part of the city and the lifestyles revolving around it.
According to Stefano Boeri Architetti China, the design of the façade is a “theme” that can be replicated and varied, for instance by changing the rhythms or the proportions of the elements, so as to fit buildings featuring different dimensions, or other objects and contexts.

The Easyhome Top Design Center is on the last floor of the mall, and was created specifically to exhibit Italian excellences in the fields of design, interior design and architecture. It hosts a series of apartment-types, showing the different ways of living, as interpreted by the great masters of Italian design. The covered spaces alternate with open patios, featuring large bamboo tubs which transfer the green and natural breath into the interior.
Stefano Boeri Architetti China designed the interiors of the Easyhome Top Design Center, considering it a cultural and design bridge between Italy and China, using materials and finishing that are typical of the Italian tradition.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Project: Easyhome Lize New Retail Experience Mall
Architects: Stefano Boeri Architetti China

Project: Easyhome Sino-Italy Top Design Center
Architects: Stefano Boeri Architetti China + TongYan Planning Institution Project

Location: Beijing, China
Photos: Paolo Rosselli

https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/

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