yinjispace

INTERIOR
Gumuziyue Spsce Design
PHOTOGRAPHY
Xu Yiwen
EDITOR
Gina
Collection

In the fast-paced pace of urban life, can we still find a space for our souls to pause? Rongqijian "quietly grew in a corner of the old city of Ningbo under such a historical proposition. This space of less than 300 square meters responds to urbanites' imagination of a "spiritual healing place" through cultural metaphors, natural imagery, and modern craftsmanship, and also constructs a consciousness field between daily and non daily life. As the birthplace of the city, Sanjiangkou in Ningbo has a historical thickness that surpasses the Bund in Shanghai. From Mingzhou in the Tang Dynasty to the gateway of maritime trade in the late Qing Dynasty, this place has accumulated the texture of a thousand year old city. The project site is located in the urban village area next to Laowai Beach, surrounded by Tianyi Pavilion, Moon Lake, and Drum Tower, where the dust of time and cultural atmosphere intertwine.Owners are summoned by traditional culture and hope to have a spiritual place with cultural attributes hidden in the marketplace, where they can achieve a balance between culture, aesthetics, and practicality.

The first floor serves as a "spiritual living room" open to the city, with a composite function of "landscape+tea table+sharing" as its core. Combining virtual and real entry points to guide visitors to slow down their pace. The ground is made of black artificial stone, which is easy to scratch, but responds to usage traces with an "imperfect texture", which is the philosophy of life. The "magic table and chairs" that can be pieced together respond to the needs of various scenarios such as tea events, calligraphy, and stoves, becoming a physical expression of spatial fluidity. The street facing facade is treated with retractable curtains to create a virtual and real interface. When closed, it isolates the noise, and when opened, it introduces the light and shadow of old trees, creating a transparent experience of "street view as a painting".

The second floor is converted into a private space, with areas for guqin, piano, calligraphy, and tatami living. The low windows in the tatami area attract tree shadows into the room, combined with grille design to block street noise and create an interior atmosphere of "sitting and watching the wind and tree shadows". The piano performance area is arranged around vegetation, with lights projected onto the ceiling to create jungle light and shadow, creating a sensory connection with music. The top curved design optimizes acoustic reflection, creating resonance between music and space. The partition adopts a high transparency silk fabric screen to achieve the Eastern aesthetic order of "breathable and sustainable atmosphere".

The design vocabulary is taken from the terrain image of "convergence of rivers" at Sanjiangkou, and the original building's "1/4 circle" structure is extended to the spatial layout. The curved "canyon" passage at the entrance, the edge lights of the stairs, the curved bar counter, and the curved partitions all form a continuous spatial language, symbolizing an "infinitely extended path of consciousness".

Taking "reality" as the scenery, black stone and shallow wood form a stable temperament of "heavy pressure and gentle touch"; Using "virtual" as the structure, white walls, flexible partitions, and penetrable light and shadow create a more spiritual atmosphere. At the same time, the landscape perspective also constructs a meditative experience of "looking down at the water and up at the sky", interweaving "introspection" and "looking out" into a meditation path. Design is not solely guided by expensive materials, but emphasizes texture and imagery. The ground black stone has gold spots, such as "the earth is pregnant with gold"; The edge of the stairs and tabletop is treated with an inverted arc, based on the principle of "softening the spatial senses". The air outlet of the air conditioner is hidden behind the light source, and the top surface is kept clean to the greatest extent, making technology become the "invisible supporting role" of the space.

"Rongqijian" has three meanings in one name: "Rong" symbolizes the convergence of energy, representing the unity of all things; "Qi" implies the initiation and departure, metaphorically indicating the spiritual refuge beyond the three realms; "Jian" refers to the image of water, with still waters running deep, carrying the inherent order of space. Combining three words into one, we construct a spiritual container that gathers energy, inspires action, and carries forward the tradition.

In the space, there are no direct religious symbols, but rather expressions through cultural reinvention. For instance, the "lotus-shaped hanging column" at the entrance of the building resembles the base of an ancient architectural column, serving both as a decorative element and a symbol of "lotus meaning"; the seven holes at the entrance conceal the Buddhist number "7"; the wooden fence on the first floor features an inscription of the character "Rong" (integration), while the second floor houses a master's calligraphy, which becomes faintly visible when illuminated, creating a "sneak peek" narrative experience.

In the Diamond Sutra, it is written: "As I have heard, at one time, the Buddha was in the Sakyadhita-Vatagami, the Garden of the Giving Tree in the country of Sheva." This place, too, beyond its physical form, quietly fosters compassion and wisdom. "Rongqi Jian" is also like its surrounding environment, where one person bestows land and another promotes the Dao.

Rongqijian "is not just a simple architectural renovation project, it is an exploratory experiment about the" spirituality of space ". It is not large, but it carries complex thoughts about people, time, religion, and contemporary urban life. It is like a narrow stream, crossing the gaps of physical space, softly awakening people's longing for "quiet, flowing, and belonging" in their hearts. In the high-speed city, such a space may be exactly what we need - a drop of water, a gust of wind, an undefined 'free field'.

From the drawings to the site, the design is executed in a 1:1 restoration. The curved chamfered walls and furniture are meticulously crafted using the reverse arc technique, with all details presented through repeated verification. Acoustic processing and temperature control systems are also invisible, achieving a modern technological aesthetic of "imperceptible experience". In terms of budget, the design will concentrate high cost materials on visual and functional cores, such as silk screens and artistic coatings; The rest is achieved by combining simple materials with process details to achieve the best balance between sensory experience and cost.

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