plat asia reinterprets nomadic culture in contemporary beijing office

Aug 11, 2023

PLAT ASIA unveils a dynamic art office that reinterprets the spirit of nomadic culture within an urban context in Beijing. The Xi Garden sits inside an industrial campus in the Chinese capital as a vibrant, contemporary composition of fluid spaces, dynamic streams, diverse materials, and controllable color atmospheres.

Centering on the phrase ‘NOMAD-IN-URBAN’, the design concept encapsulates the nomadic spiritual essence and lifestyles rooted in nature, composing the interior of forms that symbolize deserts, steppe, rivers, and cliffs. The surfaces and imagery are enlivened with shifting illuminations controlled by intelligent lighting systems that evoke the wind, sky, and streams, and engage in dialogue with the motions of the users of the space. Notably, blue lights and air-moving aluminum slices are projected on the translucent membrane ceiling which reveals as a ‘SKY film’ and creates the form of a Mongolian yurt-like space.

reception hall | all images © Wu Ang

Stepping inside, the entrance conceals behind a large column as variable lighting guides visitors into a visionary, futuristic experience. Recalling nature in contemporary expressions, the corridors evoke the character of a narrowed canyon while the aluminum slices serve as a water stream. A public space sits at the core of the Xi Garden, posing a large stage similar to a rock sculpted by the wind, injecting a feeling of the wilderness within the urban context. This area is punctuated with grand windows and encourages gathering, resting, or dispersing — all motions aligned with nomadic behaviour.

Making use of light to radically transform the space's ambience and visitor experience, the team at PLAT ASIA makes use of plays of illumination that interact with the visitor's behaviour and movement. The pulse lighting system renders intensity and mystery, as the unpredictable lighting feature reshapes areas with adjusted patterns. Across the screens the space can quickly transition from a clear blue sky to a starry night, depending on the space's use as either an art exhibition or party area.

PLAT ASIA unveils Xi Garden in Beijing

Lead architect Nandin has explored two experimental directions to achieve a nomadic-inspired spatial experience. The first centers on constructive configuration of space that is not informed in a logic of layout or composition, but arranged by the lighting to foster emotions. For instance, the illumination system creates different scenes, such as art exhibition spaces specialized for sculptures and artworks. The second direction is the expression of nomad culture through a dynamic design model, intelligent lighting systems, and unique decoration materials which together ‘restore spirits in pursuit for the vigor and nature origins from nomadic cultures.’

the corridors evoke the character of a narrowed canyon while the aluminum slices serve as a water stream

reinterpreting the steppe in an urban context

dynamic plays of light engulf the space to evoke emotional responses

abstracted expressions of nomadic culture

multifunction public space