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Nordic Books

Yatofu Creatives

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Third Floor:  A versatile retail space with sculptural display structures. - Photo Credit: Wen Studio
Nordic Books façade - Photo Credit: Wen Studio
The Feitian Dessert Bar and lobby that welcomes visitors to the Nordic Books premise. - Photo Credit: Wen Studio
Third Floor:  A versatile retail space with sculptural display structures. - Photo Credit: Wen Studio

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Multi-Brand Store
5.08
5.67
5.50
5.33
5.4
Lorcan O'Herlihy
Lorcan O'Herlihy Founder, Design Principal at Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
5
5
4
5
4.75
Nic Granleese
Nic Granleese CEO and Cofounder at BowerBird
5
6
5
6
5.5
Simon Goff
Simon Goff Founder and Director at Floor_Story
5
5
4
5
4.75
Ting Yu
Ting Yu Chief Architect at Wutopia Lab
5
6
4
6
5.25
Frank Lee
Frank Lee Founder and President at Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology
5
6
5
5
5.25
Janne van Berlo
Janne van Berlo Founder at Atelier van Berlo
5
5
7
5
5.5
Tobias Geisler
Tobias Geisler Cofounder at VAVE Studio
5
5
5
6
5.25
Nathan Watts
Nathan Watts Creative Director at Interstore
4
4
5
4
4.25
Julio Kowalenko
Julio Kowalenko Cofounder at Atelier Caracas
5
6
6
5
5.5
Victoria Yakusha
Victoria Yakusha Founder and chief architect at Yakusha Studio & FAINA Collection of live design
Very aesthetic, stylish space...
7
8
9
7
7.75
Jeff Yrazabal
Jeff Yrazabal President at SRG Partnership
5
5
6
5
5.25
Akanksha Deo Sharma
Akanksha Deo Sharma Designer at Ikea
5
7
6
5
5.75
Client
Nordica (Ningbo) Cultural Communications
Floor area
571 ㎡
Completion
2020
Project Photography
Construction
Ningbo Guanyang Architectural Decoration Co., Ltd.

Situated in a historic building on the iconic banks of Ningbo’s Yongjiang River, Nordic Books is a newly conceived design and cultural experience center, dedicated to showcasing Nordic design, publications, lifestyle, culture and values. In conceptualizing the four-story premise, Yatofu Creatives sought to evoke the soft contemporary feel of Nordic design, while preserving traces of the building’s historical past. This honest approach expands upon the foundation of the project’s core purpose: to promote the authentic values behind Nordic lifestyle and to showcase an expanded understanding to an international audience. The programming of the space is separated by the different floors, but comes together to form a cohesive experience. It features a dessert bar on the first floor, a showroom/gallery on the second, a retail area on the third, and a multi-purpose event and co-working space on the fourth floor. Our starting point was contemplating material textures as artifacts of time. A combination of preserved original surfaces, organic materials, and finishes that show the textural strokes of manual application, come together to form a story that evokes the integration of time and people. Every aspect of Nordic Books is designed to reenforce and enrich the customer’s understanding of Nordic design and lifestyle; from the soft yet vibrant color palette of each individual floor, to the material-rich fixtures that are custom designed for the space. We envisioned Nordic Books as a bridge between Nordic creatives and the Chinese audience, where dialogues about culture and values can be shared. In selecting the different materials used in the space, Yatofu Creatives always strives to choose high-quality materials that can stand the test of time as to eliminate unnecessary waste. Many fixtures are also designed to be versatile and multifunctional as to increase their use and to minimize the need for extra production. Instead of traditional paint for the walls and ceilings, micro-cement was chosen as a material due to its durability, relatively lower carbon footprint and non-existent volatile emissions. Most stone elements in the space are also locally sourced and produced, and original brickwork and stonework were preserved wherever possible to eliminate unnecessary waste. Nordic Books is a stand-out project of its category due to its complexity of context and its successful demonstration of how interior design can support a Social Space in creating deeper meaning and engagement. The project contemplates what a culturally authentic Social Space can become when it crosses from one culture to another, and seeks to translate this nuanced representation through a tangible and physical environment.