Birch Forest | 2021-2022

Designers: Kris Lin International Design, Shanghai, China
Client: Kingfar Group, Xi'an, China

Project Background
The project is located in Xi'an, close to Jinghe Wetland Park in the south. With its high-quality river resources, rich surrounding green fields and beautiful Wetland Park, the project has achieved unique ecological resources. This mixed multi-function space is divided into two floors, the first floor is cafe,  the second floor as the restaurant and art gallery space.We wanted to create a mood, a restaurant in the forest. It allows people to take a break from their daily lives and enter a relaxed environment.

Design Strategy
The grid system of indoor ceiling takes the intertwined canopy in the forest as the intention, abstracts the canopy group images in the forest into a tensile architectural structure, which has become the most expressive image characteristic of this case. The whole indoor space is neatly arranged like an artificial forest in the whole forest. We use the mortise and tenon joint technique to connect everything together. Mortise and tenon joint is a common used skill in Chinese traditional architecture, drew inspiration from the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors, it creates a visual art effect for space creation as well as completes the interpretation of traditional culture.

Design Challenges
The biggest challenge of this project is the construction of continuous curved surface of ceiling grid. Through the three-dimensional design in the early stage, we selected the aluminum plate for machine cutting in the factory, and finally, went to the construction site for installation and splicing. From the perspective of environmental protection, there is no abandoned building materials and construction wastes at the construction site, thus effectively saves costs.

Social Impact
Restaurant often bears the mission of offering a relaxing, sensitive, immersive and intimate environment to let people temporarily get away from the daily routine. This attribute determines that its spatial design shouldn't be merely restricted to create distinctive experiential consumption scenes for brands, but also needs to convey positive aesthetics and humanistic care to the public and return to the essence of life, especially in the post-pandemic era.