The fifth showroom that Studio DOTCOF have designed

The Mountain City showroom project is for Studio DOTCOF’s regular client, Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Company, in the mountain city of Chongqing, China. This is the fifth showroom that Studio DOTCOF have designed for them. From the beginning, the client expressed the desire to have local characteristics incorporated into the new showroom.

Conference Hall
Photo credit: LEIDU

The firm began by associating some images of the mountain town’s streets and buildings, three-dimensional and magical, high and low, rich and surprising experiences. They associated these images with other images of dense, humid, sultry street stalls, warm and noisy, in the shade of tall Ficus macrocarpa trees. With this impression of Chongqing's "regional characteristics", Studio DOCOF began their design.

Images of the mountain city Chongqing
Photo credit: from Web

The designers left more open space in the front lobby to receive visitors and to meet the width requirements for cars entering the showroom. Visitors can get an overall preview of the space. The floors of the east and north spaces are raised, and visitors can take the stairs to encounter a glass meeting room. From there, the flow of the exhibition continues around to the north side of the showroom, where the darker areas are used to display some of the client's products with lighting effects. There, visitors encounter two walls with openings. The higher wall blocks views to maintain focus on the exhibits, while the lower wall and its openings allow people to overlook the foyer to the south.

Front Desk
Photo credit: LEIDU

Front Lobby - general view of the space
Photo credit: LEIDU

Floor and stairs at different heights
Photo credit: LEIDU

Visitors can then take the passage from the west side steps to access the rest exhibition area and conference hall. The route is divided into two strands there, either down two steps to reach the semi-circular conference hall, or by following the outer edge of the circle to enter around the north side of the conference hall. The conference hall is mainly used for show car launches and lectures. The designers used the semi-circle to extend the width of the space and arranged the illuminated ceiling film on the top to create an "open" intention in the limited indoor space.

North Exhibition Area
Photo credit: LEIDU

Floor and stairs at different heights
Photo credit: LEIDU

Conference Hall
Photo credit: LEIDU

The designers also focused on specific materials such as terrazzo, hand-made tiles, solid wood panels, metal, etc. in order to convey a sense of Chongqing: simple, direct, and punchy.

Steel frames
Photo credit: LEIDU

About Studio DOTCOF

Studio DOTCOF was established by designer Chen Xi in 2015 in Shanghai. As an innovative design studio, they are committed to exploring the possibilities of the people-space relationship in every design project. For each project, Studio DOTCOF endeavors to fully understand, research, and to communicate regarding specific client needs, site conditions, construction technology, project budget, and more, while offering creative and unique responses through space, materials, and lighting.