By Cissy Sun, Head of Art-Science at swissnex China
On 20th August, our 20th edition of Café des Sciences Lecture – Shifting Design Paradigms was held via zoom. 114 participants joined our virtual session on the state of the current architectural/spatial/crossover design scene in China, presented by Alex Sadeghi, Design Principal at SLT - STUDIOLITE & EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) alumnus, who also shared his rich experiences and works in Switzerland, China and the US. Several engaging questions were posed by the audience such as on design thinking for virtual space, design's connection to nature and social media-friendly design/architecture works.
Due to the time constraint, we could only present a limited number of questions. If you have further questions for our speakers, please email us at artscience@swissnexchina.org. We will try our best to forward them to the speakers.
We would like express our appreciation to our speaker Alex Sadeghi for sharing his valuable insights, and also to thank EPFL Alumni Shanghai Chapter for their support to this event.
The video recording of the webinar is here.
The presentation slides are available to download here.
Here are some key event takeaways that we would like to share with you.
Studiolite [SLT] is an international collaborative of architects, planners, designers, artists, and thinkers. Their focus is boundary-pushing urban, architectural, and interior design strategies, currently headquartered in Shanghai, with branches in Lausanne, Switzerland and Boston, USA.
Studiolite has cooperated with many diverse organizations and international companies such as K11, Lady M, Chocolaterie Blondel and etc. During the presentation, several projects are mentioned by Alex to illustrate how the design meets the social media strategy and the hybrid functions.
This flagship store designed for Lady M China is located on the shore of the legendary West Lake in Hangzhou. A modern composition on the theme of “arches by the water”, the design invites guests to embark on a journey through a succession of spaces delineated by elegant, asymmetrical curves which channel both Chinese garden design and the charm of European water towns. And Lady M’s newest Cantonese outpost speaks both to the high-tech, industrial character of the bustling metropolis, while remaining true to the brand’s core tenets of bright elegance and dramatic decor. Organized around a central decorated pillar, the store’s design follows a linear structure, carrying guests either towards the main counter or the dining zone. Above, a fantastical, folded series of perforated arches marry form and light in a perfect reflection of Lady M’s aesthetics.
Blondel is a Swiss Chocolate store whose design reflects the brand’s over 150 years of history. Composed of dark wood, granite-like stone, and bronze metal details, the store is an homage to the original store which has stood in Lausanne, Switzerland for over a century, and welcomed such illustrious guests as Winston Churchill. In contrast to Lady M, Blondel has a different approach to the online/offline dilemma. They invest a lot of effort into their online store/digital space rather than the physical store.
The fashion industry has been affected greatly by the general shifts of shopping habits, design concept and the aesthetic awareness. So in many cases, fashion stores are now turning into hybrid spaces with the functions of showroom, gallery, café and even co-working.
Besides the architectural design projects, studiolite is also working on many cultural and public projects and design related research.
Q & A Session
Q: Could you recommend on some resources on how design thinking could be extended to virtual space?
A: Digital spaces are very much presented in our daily life now, but virtual space design is not yet fully explored. We also had some requests on designing purely online store, no physical store at all. But this area we still need to work on in future. The classical Italian brand Minotti recently designed a virtual building with showrooms to show their products. I’d take this as an example to show that one of the design trend my go into that direction. But for designers, there are many new technological tools that have been developed in terms of real time rendering and visualisation programs. Those tools can very quickly get you familiar with virtual experience as a part of doing design.
Q: How do you see the evolution of dilemma between our life becoming more and more digital and the need of people to relate to the physical world, our need of being surrounded by nature, animal and plants?
A: I’m optimistic towards this. I think the evolving technology and things in society may lead to the impression of cyber-punk, mega city, concrete jungles and lots of environmental problems. But I’m optimistic because I think the adoption of technology, understandings of mobility and awareness of the environment through the use of the digital tools may end up a positive effect on the cities. You can already see that people are using more local shopping, reducing mobility, appreciating nature and the new urban planning projects are all considering these aspects. So eventually, I think the overall movements will lead the future cities towards a more balanced situation, with the access to the beauty of nature.
Q: Since the requirements of a designer is getting more and more complex, do you think the current design education is adequate? Are there any knowledge or skills should be added back at the university? And what is your advice to the young designers?
A: I have strong opinions about this. The architecture/design education is good, covering all the basics but it’s lacking the part of how people actually work in the field. The technology has changed a lot during the past decade, and the way we designers work also changed a lot, we use high quality visualisation tools, VR rooms and we don’t even print now. The integration of that part into the education is crucial. My advice to the young designers are stay open and curious, and equipped yourself with new technological tools.
