Waterfront Lilac Club: A Harmonious Blend of East and West

YI Chen & Muchen Zhang's Award-Winning Design Merges Oriental Aesthetics with Modern Design Principles

The Waterfront Lilac Club is a striking example of how traditional elements can be reinterpreted and infused into contemporary design. The designers have deconstructed and recombined the Chinese traditional architectural bracket system, known as Dou Gong, to create a unique design pattern. The use of abstract white lilac as a visual element, blooming in the towering central void, provides a new visual image with aesthetic significance. The design is both fresh and familiar, offering a sense of comfort and elegance.

What sets this design apart is its successful integration of the formal aesthetic sense and spiritual realm specific to oriental style. The designers have drawn on the essence of traditional artistic conception of oriental culture, focusing on developing and advocating the extraordinary oriental life idea as well as modern design spirit of human in harmony with dwelling. The result is a space that not only shows its respect for traditional culture but also represents an extension of traditional culture.

The designers have used cedarwood, corbel bracket, stone, and flax lamp to realize their vision. The wooden truss structure, a special structural style, forms a uniform modeling element and is skillfully spread in the space, constituting unique spatial patterns. The art atmosphere spreads to every corner, making people feel very friendly and comfortable.

The design process was not without its challenges. The biggest challenge was to make the modern-oriental interior coexist with the American style architecture. The designers resolved this by looking for similarities in scale, figure, material, and color. They removed excessive moldings and used Chinese wooden grilling in the ceiling to match with the gabled roof outside. The use of natural wood in the interior design perfectly matched with the red bricks outside, creating a harmonious balance between the east and the west, the inside and the outside.

The Waterfront Lilac Club is a testament to the designers' respect for traditional culture and their commitment to pushing the boundaries of design. It is no surprise that this design was awarded the Platinum A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award in 2016. The club is not just a space; it is a symbol of the harmonious blend of tradition and modernity, a testament to the designers' vision and creativity.