Cloud, Go High / Wutopia Lab


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© CreatAR Images
  • Interiors Designers: Wutopia Lab
  • Location: Wentong Building A, Kunming Road 739, Shanghai, China
  • Lead Architects: Yu Ting
  • Project Architect: Shuojiong Zhang
  • Design Consultant: ArchUnits
  • Lighting Consultant: Chloe Zhang
  • Client: Go High Fund
  • Area: 10372.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: CreatAR Images

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Text description provided by the architects. Wutopia Lab was invited by Go High Fund to transform a 9-story office building into a new office community that blends life and sociality. Located in the northeast corner of Shanghai, the old building is a typical product during the transition from a typical industrial economy to service economy. In this project, Wutopia Lab rethought the way to transform old building, by simply draping it with a new overcoat. 


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Wutopia Lab has identified three key moments in the office, a multifunction lobby, a co-working place and a rooftop garden.  The first floor is designed as a flexible event space, operated by DNA Café&More, a customizable community service, operated by Lobby Hobby’s shared lobby, which integrates social, office, conference, short break, recreation, retail, six formats together based on a traditional lobby.


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The second floor integrates shared book, shared meeting rooms and shared gyms to enhance the scene application on the first floor. Go High Fund launched HIWORK in the office area, a new co-working mode that can flexibly change the office scene by hanging the movable furniture to meet the needs of the office. The top floor terrace features a light bar, lounge area and stage show. The public functions at the top and bottom also ensure a multidimensional experience for the various users of the building. 


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© CreatAR Images

Wutopia Lab uses perforated aluminum plates as pen and ink to connect the facade, landscape, lobby, office and roof in a way that creates a three-dimensional, continuous stream of clouds.


1F Plan

1F Plan

The landscape installation is supported by the smallest components, like a layer of veil floating on the old building, as if the landscape is alive. Limited budgets, urban planning rules, and interference from neighbors have cut this obvious narrative into fragments.


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© CreatAR Images

Compared with the the frontal hard resistance, we chose to show a philosophical attitude of detachment through the design method in dealing with the new and old façade. We kept a fragment at the entrance, it’s a short mountain-shaped aluminum panel integrated the doorway and greenery, like an abstract bonsai, as an introduction to this design.


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© CreatAR Images

Comprising a sequence of different layers of cloud, developed around the lobby, reading room and rooftop garden, Wutopia Lab created a three-dimensional green landscape with perforated aluminum panels in the old industrial area of ​​Shanghai.


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© CreatAR Images