Neri Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, of the Neri&Hu architectural practice, have renovated a building near the 5th Northeast Ring Road in Beijing, China. The project is located in a thriving industrial area that once transported goods in and out of the Chinese capital.

The industrial area is undergoing a renovation process, of which Neri&Hu is already a part for the refurbishment of this former warehouse used in the past for cotton textile production and which will now be the headquarters, offices, and retail concept shop of the Lao Ding Feng pastry brand, founded in 1911.
The original structure of the building renovated by Neri&Hu was made of brick and consisted of the main warehouse, three annexed volumes, and a landscaped courtyard. Cast concrete, subsequently polished by hand by craftsmen, has been used to mold the old brick shell, its openings, and its negative spaces, which form the commercial, gallery, and office areas.

The area created between the new object and the original shell allows for flexible spaces for a cafeteria and a multi-purpose foyer. The ground floor will house the exhibition area, the flagship shop, the garden, and the café, while the first floor is mainly the headquarters and offices.


Lao Ding Feng Beijing by Neri&Hu. Photograph by Zhu Rhunzi.


Lao Ding Feng Beijing by Neri&Hu. Photograph by Zhu Rhunzi.
 

Description of project by Neri&Hu

Near the Northeast 5th Ring Road in Beijing, the project site is part of a once thriving industrial area with its own train depot called the Langyuan Station. In the past, it was used for transporting goods in and out of Beijing.

Today the neighborhood is undergoing a transitional phase, and Neri&Hu was called upon to design the adaptive reuse of an old warehouse building once used for cotton textile production for the main office and retail concept store for the historical Beijing pastry brand called Lao Ding Feng founded in 1911.

The original brick structure is composed of a main warehouse and three annex buildings, plus a courtyard garden. For projects like this, Neri&Hu’s strategy always begins with a thorough investigation of what parts of the building at present may be kept and restored, while any new additions should not only respect the existing, but also stand in contrast to it, so that a clear distinction may be drawn between old and new.


Lao Ding Feng Beijing by Neri&Hu. Photograph by Zhu Rhunzi.

The design concept is inspired in part by the client’s main product, traditional Chinese style pastries often formed in a decorative mold — the notion that a container may hold or form the shape of its contents within. Here, a new cast concrete object is molded into the old brick shell, its various openings and negative spaces form the main retail, gallery and office spaces. After pouring the concrete and allowing it to cure, specialized craftsmen then bush-hammer it for a soft textural quality that both contrasts with and also compliments the old bricks. In certain moments, the new inner concrete will seep out and appear on the façade to fill in the voids or indicate new access points. The gap spaces between the new object and the original shell become flexible areas for a café and multipurpose lobby. The ground floor contains the exhibition area, the flagship store, the garden and the cafe while the second floor is mainly the head office.

Traversing through the new concrete object and experiencing the interstitial spaces between the new insertion and the old building brings a sense of connectivity between past, present, and future and gives this historical Beijing pastry brand a new home.

 

More information

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Architects
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Neri&Hu. Partners in charge.- Neri Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu; Associate-in-charge.- Zhao Lei.
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Proyect team
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Ivy Feng, Tian Hua, Wenbo Da, Joy Han, Mingxuan Wei, Nicolas Fardet, July Huang,Lyuqitiao Wang.
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Collaborators
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Architecture design.- Neri&Hu Design and Research Office.
Interior design.- Neri&Hu Design and Research Office.
FF&E design.- Design Republic.
Consultants. LDI.- Questing Building (Beijing) Technology Co., LTD; Lighting.- Linea Light (China) CO., LTD.
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Client
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Beijing Lao Ding Feng Food Co., LTD.
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Contractor
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Beijing Jianyan Urban Renewal Engineering Technology Co. LTD.
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Area
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Site area.- 1,345 sqm.
Building floor area.- 974 sqm.
Gross area.- 1,580 sqm.
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Dates
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2021- 2022.
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Location
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Beijing, China.
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Photography
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Zhu Rhunzi.
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Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, founded in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office is an inter-disciplinary architectural design practice based in Shanghai, China. Neri&Hu works internationally providing architecture, interior, master planning, graphic, and product design services. Currently working on projects in many countries, Neri&Hu is composed of multi-cultural staff who speak over 30 different languages.  The diversity of the team reinforces a core vision for the practice: to respond to a global worldview incorporating overlapping design disciplines for a new paradigm in architecture.

Lyndon Neri is a Founding Partner of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, an inter-disciplinary international architectural design practice based in Shanghai, China. In 2014, Wallpaper* announced Neri&Hu as 2014 Designer of The Year. In 2013, Mr. Neri was inducted into the U.S. Interior Design Hall of Fame with his partner Ms. Rossana Hu. The practice was the 2011 INSIDE Festival Overall Winner, won AR Awards for Emerging Architecture 2010 by Architectural Review and was selected as one of the Design Vanguards in 2009 by Architectural Record. Mr. Neri received a Master of Architecture at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to starting his own practice with partner Rossana Hu, he was the Director for Projects in Asia and an Associate for Michael Graves & Associates in Princeton for over 10 years, and also worked in New York City for various architectural firms.

Rossana Hu is a Founding Partner of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, an inter-disciplinary international architectural design practice based in Shanghai, China. In 2014, Wallpaper* announced Neri&Hu as 2014 Designer of The Year. In 2013, Mr. Neri was inducted into the U.S. Interior Design Hall of Fame with his partner Ms. Rossana Hu. The practice was the 2011 INSIDE Festival Overall Winner, won AR Awards for Emerging Architecture 2010 by Architectural Review and was selected as one of the Design Vanguards in 2009 by Architectural Record. Ms. Hu received a Master of Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Music from the University of California at Berkeley. Before establishing Neri&Hu with her partner Lyndon Neri, Ms. Hu worked for Michael Graves & Associates, Ralph Lerner Architect in Princeton, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in New York City, and The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in San Francisco.

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