Hexagonal Court, Homer Shop & Office / Jin Qiuye Studio

Apr 08, 2023

+ 22

Text description provided by the architects. HOMERUS is a start-up in the field of solid wood bespoke furniture and met us through a project collaboration. The site is located on the first floor of an industrial building in the north of the park, with a separate entrance. The owner wanted this showroom to meet the following needs in the future: product display and sales; business negotiations; daily office; small events and receptions; product photography, etc. The room is small in size, with four thick steel columns to the east of the centre, supporting a double-sloped roof with a north-south orientation. The windows on the north side are all located close to the floor plate, with two high windows on the east side. There are metal standing blocking panels along the edge of the roof, which can be removed.

If the furniture exhibition area were to be arranged centrally, it would become a replica of a conventional set. Instead, it is arranged along the perimeter, with the central part left empty, using the 7m height of the ridge as a vertical 'inner courtyard', using plain plaster walls to separate the spaces and divide the areas, and then opening square holes in the walls to create visual connections and add layers. This allows for an internal contrast between reality and reality, without having to rely on the dry park environment outside the small windows.

The floor of the courtyard is 300mm higher than the surrounding galleries, with a few steps up and a small green brick paving in the centre to create a sense of the outdoors, together with the surrounding white walls. There is a full white wall on the north-east side of the courtyard, which can be used for projections, small gatherings or launches, and people can stand on the steel stairs leading to the first floor, on the first floor terrace and east terrace, or sit on the floor in the courtyard, all of which retain a number of standing areas for viewing, creating a semi-enclosure.

When entering the main entrance from the north side of the park, you have to go down three steps and then up a four-fold staircase, which is rather inconvenient. A small wooden bridge has been built and the lower part of the staircase is used as a display window on the left, while a sloping wall on the right marks the way in, with a few green plants planted between the bridge and the sloping wall. The visitor arrives at the hillside pavilion via a winding mountain path, pushes open the door and is greeted by a depressed space, with a glimpse of the atrium through two steel pillars in front of him on the left.

The exhibition hall is decorated in a variety of wood colours, the atrium is lined with green bricks and whitewashed walls, banana leaves and bamboo branches peek out from the near and far caves, warm light pours from the cave under the stairs, and beyond are greenery and curious stones. Whether you are talking, visiting or working, you can see the light and people in the atrium and the rooms opposite through the cave entrance, making this a peaceful place.