Jade Store - Guangzhou, China (2017)

In the center of the largest Jade Market in Guangzhou, a few old houses sit at the end of the small path leading to the Hualin Temple. Characteristic of the old and aged, these houses have narrow, small and dark rooms. The client was looking to create a new type of jade store that would leave a clear and fresh impression on the visitors.

Different from the traditional Jade store, ZHY HOUSE focuses on programmatic diversity and spatial comfort. Combining clothing, ceramics and tea. The design uses simple harmonies of materiality and tone to create a lifestyle store.

The new exterior wall flattens the original staggering profile of the façade and creates a strong identity for the building. This creates an abstract and clean exterior with dynamic spaces between the new and the old. Square openings of varying sizes are arranged in a shifting composition, revealing the interior spaces at various depths. The addition not only expresses the programmatic diversity between floors but also adds display windows to the street. The simple composition of white wall and square openings creates a holistic facade in relationship to the plaza.