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The exhibition initiated by Wallpaper* China magazine titled "the CLASH of IDEAS – A Record of Chinese Design 2022" was curated based on questions and answers of 34 groups of designers to reflect contemporary Chinese design thinking. As a temporary exhibition, we seek to execute it in a way with low cost, effective construction, easy dismantle for recycle, and appropriate responses to the themed contents. In the end, Atelier tao+c proposed to place an unconventional and extremely long table, made of 5mm thin timber sheets, providing a continuous unfolding plane and a platform for sharing everyone's opinions.
The venue is located on a 40-meter-long and 8.5-meter-high staircase, with an irregularly shaped room at the end. Inspired by ancient single long bridge with basic construction principles, a structural form took the shape of a table bridge were built alongside the site's staircase. With help of a long central axis beam supported by staggered diagonal wooden legs, the structure could be easily fit to the steps. At the same time, the single linear beam can not only extend on the staircase, but also adapted angles and directional changes, forming an ascending path.
A tabletop is usually made of 30mm think timber board which is flat and hard to hold objects. The architect reduced the thickness of the applied timber board to 5mm, which becomes a thin sheet which will curve down slightly under its own gravity, like the pages of a book. By this material selection, the lower project cost and eco-compatibility of material use have been achieved. Also, it fitted the timeslot of completing the construction within 3 days before the final exhibition.
It’s a rather different exhibition that fostered contents in Q&A format on printed paper and compiled images, some materials, and tools on exhibit.
To present a meaningful exhibition that tells the narrative of contemporary Chinses design, reasonable visual arrangements as well as combinations of images, texts, and physical objects were calibrated to evoke an emotional and sensory experience.
The participating designers not only answered the questions, but also provided materials, objects and tools among different sizes and specifications, enabling visitors to generate a more comprehensive understanding of their unique efforts and thoughts. These physical materials have been placed on curved tabletops in certain sequence to test their load-bearing capacity and balance after measurements and classifications.
Meanwhile, the ways in which different types of physical objects were fixed on the table bridge were testified before the final present.
The exhibition design adopted the most basic materials and price-worthy construction techniques to present a well curated exhibition both in contents and experience for design enthusiasts. The thin timber sheets became the main materials executed in the exhibition and enabled the team to complete the construction and the final curation of the design in 3 days, while the timber boards could be recycled for reuse in a environment-friendly way.
Founded in 2016, Atelier tao+c is an emerging studio based in Shanghai. Our works range from a piece of pendant lamp to a compound development, from the interior of small urban apartments to the renovation of old rural houses, from shops on the street to a youth community. Paralleled with the practical works, the office has involved with research and teaching, focusing on subjects such as revival of old buildings and objects in domestic landscape.
The design method takes the typology of semi-architectural semi-interior, retreating to the inner world, allowing the space to grow from inside and breaking through the perimeter, intermediating the inside and outside.
The practice seeks to explore the beauty of everyday life, to pick up the evocative clues and re-discover values hidden in simplicity and allow life to unfold to us with all of its complexities.
