Known as one of modern China’s first public and commercial spaces, Zhang Yuan opened in 1885, and helped craft the image of urban lifestyle in Shanghai. Neri&Hu took to one of the shikumen buildings on the grounds – a historical lane-house style that combines Western and Eastern elements – for global coffee retailer Blue Bottle. 

The designers retained the brick walls, doors and windows of the original architectural façades and atriums, utilizing these features as a backdrop for new additions. Introducing a light palette was foremost to the project to counterbalance the material heaviness of the building. Neri&Hu erected a roof structure from brushed stainless steel, finishing its surface with perforated and bent steel. The informal constructions Shanghai dwellers once used to extend the private spaces of their shikumen into the adjacent alleyways informed the café’s rails, side tables, benches and object displays. Brand furniture coexists alongside repurposed traditional Shanghainese pieces.  

Big-brand shops situated in historical settings can feel disparate and ingenuine, their physical presence an eyesore in a hyperlocal context. The tactful refurbishment of the Zhang Yuan shikumen allows Blue Bottle to exist as a neighbour, not an occupant, using architecture to connect visitors with the garden’s strong place in Shanghai’s history and culture.