Hutong Neighborhood Complex Coffee Shop by Easy Arch Is Granted the Silver A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design

Easy Arch acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category for Hutong Neighborhood Complex Coffee Shop by Easy Arch, designed for Joy Beans, Easy Arch. The recognition forms part of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

What the Silver A' Design Award Means

The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

Regarding Hutong Neighborhood Complex Coffee Shop

Hutong Neighborhood Complex is a coffee shop and community interior set in an old house in a Hutong of central Beijing. The two floors cover 133 square meters. The first floor serves as a shared living room for local residents. The second floor works as a back garden, where movable plant boxes divide the space by function. Low cost and environmentally friendly materials are used on the walls and floors, in colors that suit the Hutong district. The old brick wall and wooden roof are kept. The space also hosts art exhibitions, reading and shared office use.

About Easy Arch

Founded in 2017, Easy Arch, initiated by four young architects, is committed to the renewal of old properties in the urban core area, hoping to revitalize the city. A coffee plan initiated by eight life-loving architects. We used to depict the city with a brushstroke, and now we are quietly waiting for you in the high-rises of Beijing. Joy Beans Cafe is open in the community called Hutong Neighborhood Complex which is "urban micro renewal" and regain the Hutong Culture. All the founders are architects. The store changes the way people get along with each other and make the living environment more comfortable and full of love.

Award Record

With this recognition, Easy Arch is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.

About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award

The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interior

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Winner Page: https://designers.org/122956
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/122956
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!122956
Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/303937

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project: Hutong Neighborhood Complex Coffee Shop
Function: Coffee Shop
Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Discipline: Spatial Design
Industry: Architecture and Packaging & Retail
Colors: Dim Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Gray, Silver and Dark Gray
Images: 5
Client: Joy Beans, Easy Arch

The Recognition

Laureate: Easy Arch
Country: China
Recognition: Silver A' Design Award
Edition: 2020 - 2021
Design ID: #122956

Credits

Team: Chen Yuwei, Ping Siwei, Zheng Chenxi and Li Jing
Image Credits: Photographer Liu Lei

Design Details

Unique Properties: The project is the renewal and activation of an old house, integrating the functions of coffee shop, art space, community shared living room, book corner, etc. It is Such a complex function building will increase the vitality of an old city, realize "urban micro renewal" and regain the Hutong Culture. The 1st floor is called big living room in Hutong. The residents regard it as their own living room and the continuation of their home. The 2nd floor is called back garden in the alley. The movable plant box is used to divide the space according to the functional requirements of the space. Artists are regularly recruited to create works for the frontage art window.
Inspiration: The project is an old house in the Hutong of the old city, near the famous Prince Gong's residence. The houses in the Hutong are very small and there is no centralized greening. Residents need a bigger living room and back garden. So the designer made the upper and lower floors into community living room and garden respectively. Add fashionable elements to the old house and inject new vitality into the life of Hutong with contrast. Through planning and transformation, different functions of different periods (such as coffee shop, shared office, art space, old people's lounge, etc.) are added to this space, so that the old house can redistribute its vitality and continue their life.
Research: PhilipM.Goldsmith, a great Canadian architect, said: "the most meaningful protection for an old building is to find a way to reuse it.". This project retains the blue brick exterior wall and wooden roof of the old building, continues the color of Beijing gray in the interior, injects coffee makers, living plants and community shared living rooms who are willing to communicate, and becomes a scarce public space in the core area of Beijing.
Challenge: 1. The project is located in the old urban area, with the project as the center, the public space within 500meters is seriously lacking, and the area needs to share public space. 2. From the perspective of coffee shop operation, we must control the cost of renovation and find a balance between cost and design effect. 3. How to protect the old building structure. In the same space, avant-garde works of art coexist with the exposed old roof truss, colliding with different tastes.
Realization and Technology: The walls and floors of the project are made of low-cost environmental protection materials. The color and texture are in line with the characteristics of the Hutong district. The glass is in line with the map of the Qianlong period in Beijing made of huge sulfuric acid paper to separate the space. The ultra-fine linear light belt flows to the wall along the top surface, making the eyes focus on the wall of landscape position, just like time flowing. In the gray wall of the old house, the sense of technology is compared.
Operation and Interaction: The project is close to the tourist area, and the multi-functional composite space is used. On weekends, Hutong visitors make full use of the space to drink coffee, read books and talk. On weekdays, due to the lack of tourists, part of the second floor becomes a shared office space. At the same time, free rest service is provided for the elderly in the community. It is also a free street art space with exhibitions of artists from Italy, Russia and China.
Project Duration and Location: Design Time: November 2019 to December 2019 Construction Time: December 2019 to February 2020 Beijing, China
Specifications: Use Area of Two Floors: 133 Square Meters， First Floor Platform Area: 14.3 Square Meters， Second Floor Terrace Area: 17 Square Meters
Keywords: Urban Micro Renewal, Hutong Living Room, Hutong Back Garden, Art Gallery, Community Book Corner, Café shop, Shared Space