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In traditional Chinese architecture, the pavilion is a place to ascend and gaze afar. Inserted into the interior, it preserves the spatial archetypes of entry and layering. The garden principles of a winding path leading to seclusion and a shifting view at every step are woven into the visitor circulation, serving the experiential logic of contemporary retail. The pavilion becomes the visual and structural core — the axis around which all sightlines contract and expand. With no right angles, the curve becomes the mother tongue of the space: the bar counter, the garment rails, the staircase — every transition is resolved in an arc. Every concealed edge, every pondered process, every chosen material must pass the repeated questioning of hand and eye before it is allowed to settle. Within, scale and light embrace in a wordless restraint — and restraint itself becomes negative space: liubai, the Eastern art of leaving blank.

DAQIANLOFT

大钱阁

Location
Wenzhou
Space Design
XIAOOU Office
Address
No. 5255, Oujiang Road, Binjiang Subdistrict, Lucheng District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

"I dwell among the world of men, yet no clamor of horse and chariot reaches me."

A bustling cultural and creative park, converted from an old flour mill, nevertheless gives rise to that very stillness — born of the interplay of materials, light, circulation, and scale. This stillness is not isolation, but a pocket of serenity held within the bustle.

Tao Yuanming's answer lies in the line which follows: "When the mind dwells afar, the place grows quiet of itself." It is a choice of spirit that transcends the physical environment.

DAQIANLOFT — upon the bones of industrial heritage, it reaches for the soul of Eastern aesthetics.

Phase I · The Pavilion Takes Residence

Design Period
Aug–Oct 2025
Completion Date
Dec 2025
Design Area
583 m²

The rawness of the flour mill contrasts with the suppleness of Eastern attire— concrete against ramie, the curved silo against the circular cash-coin motif, aged brick against new pattern, the textured floor against mellow timber. Tension arises from contrast; the space itself becomes a legible work.

What the brand required was not only surface area, but a structure capable of holding a realm. Garments are no longer the sole object on display: light, material, and circulation together compose the experience, and the visitor's presence itself becomes content. Thus the pavilion — a space to enter, to linger, to gaze afar — where architecture, motif, and garment together complete a narrative of continuity and renewal.

Project film — Phase I · The Pavilion Takes Residence
In traditional Chinese architecture, the pavilion is a place to ascend and gaze afar. Inserted into the interior, it preserves the spatial archetypes of entry and layering. The garden principles of a winding path leading to seclusion and a shifting view at every step are woven into the visitor circulation, serving the experiential logic of contemporary retail. The pavilion becomes the visual and structural core — the axis around which all sightlines contract and expand. With no right angles, the curve becomes the mother tongue of the space: the bar counter, the garment rails, the staircase — every transition is resolved in an arc. Every concealed edge, every pondered process, every chosen material must pass the repeated questioning of hand and eye before it is allowed to settle. Within, scale and light embrace in a wordless restraint — and restraint itself becomes negative space: liubai, the Eastern art of leaving blank.
Material Narrative: Heritage Craft Made Spatial Fabric clads the walls; craftsmanship carries the bones. Ramie's warp and weft weave time itself; the arc of waxed cord gathers the body's memory; woven bamboo casts sparse shadows, letting wind and light pass through. Intangible heritage is no plaque in a vitrine — here it is put to work, made to bear, and carried forward. Large stretches of the facade are clad in ramie, pieced from linen of different eras and origins — each tone and weight with its own provenance. On screen walls and columns, the fabric is seamed horizontally; where the weft is withdrawn and the warp remains, the wall faintly shows through — the cloth leaving itself a breath of space. On the deepest wall, warm light falls from above and the texture awakens inch by inch. The softness of handcraft dissolves the old structure's hardness; the patina of time sets off the garments' newness; pieced fragments rebuild a complete field. The space thus transcends retail — it becomes a site of the handmade, tangible and felt. Bamboo woven as screen; craft framing the view. Sichuan intangible-heritage bamboo weaving forms the pavilion partition which can be fully openable. The railing is kept low, letting treetops spill over the screen wall into the interior. Woven shut, it is a wall — sifting light, casting shadow. Drawn open, it is a frame — the view becoming facade. Rough-textured warm-taupe plaster grounds the wall; the radial symmetry of traditional window grilles and the language of the cash-coin motif are reworked into a patterned texture unique to DAQIANLOFT. After repeated trials with the artist, the finish is achieved through layered stenciling — patterns overlapping, faintly emerging and receding, never overpowering.
placeholder: A view from the entrance follows the passage inward as the space gradually unfolds.
The Weight of Heritage: Structural Constraints of the Existing Fabric A forest of columns marches across the space, its capitals beyond removal. The immovable is made ornamental: the column grid becomes warp and weft, weaving the functional program into the plan; drawing on the language of classical Chinese column capitals, the structural remnants are reimagined as nodes of antique resonance. Natural materials retain their raw textures, while man-made materials emulate natural coarseness; the two converse through touch. Black is laid as the ground: deep, yet never loud. A pale coffee hue is drawn from the washed and sun-bleached tones of rattan, bamboo, and ramie. The mortise-and-tenon joint receives its contemporary translation: its interlocking logic survives as a visual motif, while the bearing of load passes to welded steel; the que-ti — the sparrow brace — stripped to its essence, lands at the junction of beam and column. From the tactile to the structural, the space, through order, becomes a medium of perception.r.
Square Meets Circle: Nested Rings and the Cash-Coin Imagery Columns establish the square; interlocking rings weave within; circulation unfolds along the arcs. The square sets boundary and order; the circle carries flow and inward focus — the square holding its rectitude, the circle achieving harmony. The two bleed into one another and settle into the Eastern aesthetic realm of the pavilion.
Natural materials retain their raw textures, while man-made materials emulate natural coarseness; the two converse through touch. Black is laid as the ground: deep, yet never loud. A pale coffee hue is drawn from the washed and sun-bleached tones of rattan, bamboo, and ramie. The mortise-and-tenon joint receives its contemporary translation: its interlocking logic survives as a visual motif, while the bearing of load passes to welded steel; the que-ti — the sparrow brace — stripped to its essence, lands at the junction of beam and column. From the tactile to the structural, the space, through order, becomes a medium of perception.
The Pavilion's Hidden Realm: The Corridor as a Ritual of Discovery The stair is a threshold: a waxed-cord handrail runs alongside; crabapple-pattern wrought-iron step lights unfold a continuous motif underfoot; warm "green-shade" light pours from overhead, shifting visitors from public browsing to the intimacy of the upper floor. The VIP area settles into deeper, enveloping warm tones — a white linen sofa, a red Persian rug, a black sculptural coffee table, a vertical-grain timber partition; within, a bamboo-woven fitting-room door stands as a screen against the outside world, admitting light but not sight. The VIP room serves not only for fitting and trying on, but as a salon for receiving and socializing. The stair is not mere circulation but a choreographed ascent. Warm timber treads, edged in black steel plate, float within the dark; the waxed-cord railing continues the language of ramie and bamboo — what the hand grasps is their continuation. Light drifts down from the top of the stairwell, caught tread by tread as one ascends through alternating dark and light.
Ascend, then gaze afar. The ground floor is for walking and looking, the upper floor for sitting and lingering. The pavilion is a pavilion not for its height, but for the room it offers — to step back from the bustle and reconsider what one has chosen. A window opens, the gaze travels far. A window opens, from this height, the treetops draw near, their leaves stirring as if whispering.
Light Held Still: The Light Well, Tree Shadows, and Temporality The ceiling evokes the tianjing — a courtyard light well — layered with the "green shade" of summer. Ascending the steps, warm light pours from overhead; like a sundial, the space keeps time. Pools of light climb from wall to the carved-timber bar, then up the warp and weft of the ramie-clad columns, binding the two floors. Look up: green shade spills in as though treetops had reached indoors, while the well converges upward, lifting away the weight of the ceiling. Between square and circle, spatial form and brand language close into one loop.
Tectonic Vocabulary: The Structural Translation of Traditional Chinese Architecture The expansion joint between column and ceiling is recast as a luminous detail: a concealed LED strip washes light downward — structure becomes the origin of light. The mortise-and-tenon joint is translated for today: its interlocking logic survives visually, while the structure is reinforced by welded steel. The railing draws on the form and structure of the que-ti — the sparrow brace; through contemporary detailing, the column capital is reimagined as a ludou bearing block. Hanging racks are welded to the framing, with pre-embedded structural hardware.
Material Narrative: Heritage Craft Made Spatial Fabric clads the walls; craftsmanship carries the bones. Ramie's warp and weft weave time itself; the arc of waxed cord gathers the body's memory; woven bamboo casts sparse shadows, letting wind and light pass through. Intangible heritage is no plaque in a vitrine — here it is put to work, made to bear, and carried forward. Large stretches of the facade are clad in ramie, pieced from linen of different eras and origins — each tone and weight with its own provenance. On screen walls and columns, the fabric is seamed horizontally; where the weft is withdrawn and the warp remains, the wall faintly shows through — the cloth leaving itself a breath of space. On the deepest wall, warm light falls from above and the texture awakens inch by inch. The softness of handcraft dissolves the old structure's hardness; the patina of time sets off the garments' newness; pieced fragments rebuild a complete field. The space thus transcends retail — it becomes a site of the handmade, tangible and felt. Bamboo woven as screen; craft framing the view. Sichuan intangible-heritage bamboo weaving forms the pavilion partition which can be fully openable. The railing is kept low, letting treetops spill over the screen wall into the interior. Woven shut, it is a wall — sifting light, casting shadow. Drawn open, it is a frame — the view becoming facade. Rough-textured warm-taupe plaster grounds the wall; the radial symmetry of traditional window grilles and the language of the cash-coin motif are reworked into a patterned texture unique to DAQIANLOFT. After repeated trials with the artist, the finish is achieved through layered stenciling — patterns overlapping, faintly emerging and receding, never overpowering.
The Pavilion Within: Anchoring the Rising Form On the second floor, the pavilion rises from the slab: four load-bearing columns settle its frame. Full-height sliding doors and window lattices, custom-woven with intangible-heritage bamboo, open and close at will — finely meshed, dividing without enclosing, letting light and sightlines breathe through every gap. The stair spirals around the columns, black textured timber flooring extending with each tread; the brand's cash-coin motif, traced in LED strips, serves as both safety marker and memory anchor. The handrail adopts waxed cord, a staple of garment making — fabric thus enters the construction itself and becomes the grain of the architecture.

Phase II · The Grammar of Unfurling

Design Period
Feb–Mar 2026
Completion Date
Jun 2026
Design Area
264 m²

DAQIANLOFT Phase II grows out of the brand's functional needs: from jing — realm — into ye — vocation. The ground-floor bar extends the brand's lifestyle into the physical — not merely a place to drink, but the natural spillover of its social world. The livestream studio, photo studio, and upper-floor office anchor content production and brand operations.

Project film — Phase II · The Grammar of Unfurling
Arched Tiles as Bone: Overlapping Layers and Integrated Concealed Lighting The ceiling takes the vault of a wine cellar: tiles spread wing-like from the entrance in two staggered layers — the structural layer arching downward in a matrix, the lighting layer arching upward and nested beneath it, light refracting again and again between curved and flat surfaces. Orange long-format bricks lay a warm base across the floor; the transitions are bridged in micro-crystalline stone, catching faint, intermittent glints. Deep-brown teak veneer lines the walls; along the seams, timber strips and brass fasteners stud the joints like nail heads on leather. The bar sets cloud-veined orange onyx against piano lacquer, capped in brass at its base. The light sources withdraw behind objects: tile lights like stars, cabinet glow refracting through bottles, wall sconces like torches, LED strips fading in and out — yet it is light that recalibrates time.
Between Threshold and Forecourt: Streetscape and the Architecture of Arrival The planting scheme stays fruit-tree-led: the exterior display from the original shop is relocated to the bar's outer wall, where it joins new greenery to form the street frontage. The gate reprises the screen wall's cash-coin motif and beast-and-ring knocker; its opening mechanism is now remote-controlled, balancing formal language with day-to-day operation.
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Measures of Time: The Individual Breaks Free of Functionalism A tribute to the 1970s retro-office aesthetic of the CRUSH Collection 2024 early-autumn campaign. Shared palette: warm-orange wood veneer, mustard-yellow furniture, aged olive-green carpet — all drawn from the warm earth tones of the 70s, a deliberate turn away from the cold-white industrial look. Shared planning: one continuous, integrated workbench with low storage cabinets, carrying on the American modular office logic of the 70s and 80s — open plan, partitions dissolved. Echoed icons: the mushroom glass floor lamp and the fixed cylinder chair both speak the design language of the 1960s–70s — rounded organic curves, slim metal stems, soft diffused light — the core vessels of the retro mood. Mustard-yellow desktop, silver desk lamp, fixed cylinder chair, aged olive-green carpet, mirror-finished ceiling fixture — arrayed within the space.

Concealed Light, Revealed Form

When the Cash-Coin Becomes Light: Backlit Screen Walls and the Chiaroscuro of Old and New

The flanking metal cash-coin lattice screens are backlit from within: the light source hides behind the grille, diffusing outward through the perforations until the motif itself glows — a transparent, luminous night facade. Behind them, the old mill's concrete silos receive no artificial light, left in their somber, rough industrial truth. One luminous, one in shadow — warmth and weight answer each other, as old and new complete their dialogue in light.

Within and Beyond the Frame: Light Spilling Through Glazing and the Layers of the Street

Full-height glazing crops the interior like a picture frame. Warm light spills out, and the mezzanine, stair, and colonnade compose a painting within — the transition from street to space takes on ritual. In the foreground, recessed uplights wash the foliage from below, while the treetops recede into shadow; building, greenery, and street settle into three layers of depth. No harsh streetlamps — the stillness of the night is kept whole.

Concealed Light, Constructed Realm: The Interior Lighting System

Phase I

Anti-glare recessed downlights are distributed evenly across the ceiling, their soft diffusion providing an ambient base without disturbing the textures of ramie and plaster. Concealed LED strips at the column tops wash light across the column faces to bounce off the ceiling, turning structural members into luminous surfaces and easing the weight of the steel mezzanine. Downlights set into the arched tiles scatter like stars.

In the display area, aimed track spotlights trace the garment fabrics, building layers of light and shadow against the ambient light. Lights embedded in the spiral stair treads flow step by step, serving both safe passage and ritual.

Phase II

The bar's lighting is independently zoned, balancing mood and task.

Wall sconces sit half-recessed into the wall, their black-and-gold brackets cupping the beam like torches to direct its fall, casting a deep wash of shadow across the surface. The bar cabinet's shelves uplight through the glass bottles; light refracts and diffuses as it passes, shadow stirring faintly along the bottles.

Day and Night in Dialogue: Light as Medium

By day, natural light pours in through the expansive full-height glazing; shadows of the cash-coin lattice drift slowly with the sun across walls and floor. Along the edges of banquette and ceiling, LED strips fade gently in and out — day and night hand over without the jolt of an abrupt switch. A consistent warm-white 4000K runs through the space all day: indirect lighting carries the base, accent lighting is layered on top. Light never meets the eye head-on — it appears only on the surfaces it touches — the folds of ramie, the relief of plaster, the grain of old timber — emerging naturally through diffusion.

As day and night turn, the motif leads two lives: cast as shadow by sunlight, glowing on its own after dark.

Epilogue

The industrial bones are not clad away; the Eastern realm does not hang on symbols. Concrete against ramie, old brick against cash-coin, dark flooring against warm-taupe walls, light against dark — each stands its ground yet defines the other.

"Precision over carelessness, scarcity over clutter." Every edge detail is sampled again and again; the final expression rests in restraint and negative space. It makes no clamor, yet at every turn there is something worth seeing; it offers no explanation, yet every detail has its provenance.

Old and new, hard and soft, circle and square grow from one skeleton and live by one another.

As the door swings shut behind you, the beast-and-ring knocker settles gently into place; light through the lattice falls on the old stone slabs.

I dwell among the world of men, yet no clamor of horse and chariot reaches me. When the mind dwells afar, the place grows quiet.

DAQIANLOFT

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