Our design for Hyundai’s Beijing Motorstudio sought to transform a formerly downtrodden and closed-off factory space into something light, clean, and public. But the Motorstudio is ultimately intended to act as a platform: what is most important is how it is used, and how it grows and changes.

The design is truly holistic, an ecosystem of parts — architecture, air and energy systems, environmental design, programming, exhibition and installation design — that are all aligned within the overall vision of creative energy. Combining both didactic and evocative elements, the building is meant to both offer insights and provoke further thinking.

Conceptualized and designed by 2x4, the Motorstudio’s opening exhibition, “Social Mobility: Envisioning Bodies in Motion,” represented data in an engaging way. The works collected reveal new modes of thinking about motion and transportation, a subject germane both to Hyundai and to Beijing, a fast-growing city plagued by congestion. Spanning global, regional, urban, and individual scales, “Social Mobility” is designed to leave visitors with a heightened awareness of the problems and possibilities of how we move as well as to prompt thinking and focus on sustainability in urban design and creative endeavors of all sorts.