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The Exchange Bar Shanghai Blackstone Apartment

Nong Studio

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Bar
6.08
6.50
6.67
4.92
6.04
Jana Kleine-Kalmer
Jana Kleine-Kalmer Interior Designer and Artist at Jana Kleine-Kalmer
7
6
7
8.5
7.13
Julie Payette
Julie Payette Cofounder and Partner at v2com newswire
7
7
7.5
8
7.38
Dustin Stupp
Dustin Stupp Creative Director at Vave Studio
7
7.5
6.5
8
7.25
Thomas Tse
Thomas Tse Design Director at Inspiration Group
7
7
7
8
7.25
Eric Tsui
Eric Tsui Founder and Design Director at Kingwoo Strategy and Design
7
6.5
6.5
7
6.75
Rabih Hage
Rabih Hage Founder at Rabih Hage
7
7
6.5
6
6.63
Irene del Valle de la Sen
Irene del Valle de la Sen Studio Director at Roth Architecture
7
7
6
8
7
Rune Ricciardelli
Rune Ricciardelli Creative Director at Visual Display
6.5
7
6.5
7.5
6.88
Torquil McIntosh
Torquil McIntosh Cofounder at Sybarite
7
7
7
8
7.25
Ben Zhang
Ben Zhang Founder at Shanghai Jielu Decorative Design Engineering
7
7.5
6.5
7
7
Benoit Florençon
Benoit Florençon Photographer at Benoit Florençon
6
6
6
7
6.25
Rene Toneman
Rene Toneman Partner and Creative Director at Silo
The architecture shapes the interio...
6.5
7
6
8
6.88
Jason Immaraju
Jason Immaraju Creative Director at NVE Experience Agency
6.5
6.5
7
7
6.75
Designer
Client
LL Capital
Floor area
150 ㎡
Completion
2020

There is a memory called the Bund, and a style called Old Shanghai. The Blackstone Apartment is in the former French Concession. It marks the modern architectural classics of Shanghai with an eclectic style. It was known as the "most luxurious apartment" in Shanghai at that time for its luxurious configuration. It was also sought after as the most popular social place for its famous and distinguished residents. The BLACKSTONE EXCHANGE takes its design language from the traces of Shanghai in the 1930s, where it is located. It was flashy and gorgeous, lazy and mysterious, unique and unusual, introverted and self-sustaining. It accepts the infiltration of the western culture but stubbornly maintains the national tradition. The entrance of the bar is set on the side of the building. The long walkway paved with mosaic tiles seems to fade away from the hustle and bustle of the flashy world. The bar owner seemed to only search for friends thus setting up a mechanism outside the door. After finding the key to pass, the door slowly opened. Through the long walkway, the fully open symmetrical space after entering the bar makes people suddenly enlightened. The top arc shape coincides with the iconic curved balcony on the facade of the Blackstone Apartment. The wall behind the wooden bar is decorated with various baroque stigmas. Under the background of the mottled red bricks, a sense of chaos in time and space is created. It makes people feel as if they were in an Italian family tavern. It feels mysterious and historical. The visual centre of the entire space is the golden turntable. It is the centre of the stage on the central axis. The shape coincides with the turntable of the bank vault, which illuminates the "exchange" from its name. However, there are only bottles of whiskey on the axis. Like a whirlpool, people can't help but sink. What is even more unexpected is that the double-sided sights of this golden turntable. The sight from the stage cannot be crossed. However, from the bathroom on the other side, each corner of the hall can be seen through the turntable. It is secret and exciting. The two boxes behind the bar on the side of the lobby are extracted from banks. One is from the western vault, and the other is from the Chinese account room. The aisle becomes a long corridor of the vault. Stainless steel compartments of the "vault" store the wines from patrons. The wall of the "account room" is decorated with abacuses. The abacus beads form the cloudiness through the light and shadow area. This feeling adds a few more mysteries to the atmosphere of the box. The bar is everywhere to tell you the name "exchange" and the origin of the bar owner. It tells from the old newspaper at the entrance to the dining table covered with coins. It also tells from the vault shape of the stage to the two private boxes of the vault and the account room. This mysterious reservedness beyond the extravagant seems to take you to the heyday of Shanghai in the 1930s. Nearly a century changed Shanghai a lot. Even so, nothing seems to have changed.