endless urban dining oasis in beijing's wangjing soho by maison h

inspired by the work of dutch artist MC escher and ancient chinese gardens, beijing-based creative team maison h has made an endless world inside a limited space, called an urban dining oasis. the project creates a fine dining experience as a sparkling, endless journey of spatial discovery within the mundanity of everyday life. 

located next to zaha hadid’s wangjing soho mountains, the site consisted of three small, dark and deep shop lots of two floors each. this is in beijing’s new CBD, which is wedged between a residential community and office towers. maison h first removed all the walls and floors to combine the three shops into one single open space, leaving only the concrete structure and exterior façade in place. afterwards, the team then added a spiraling staircase, refined materials, framed views, and a small bamboo forest that winds through the rigid concrete framework.

all along the spatial journey upwards, there are windows in the façade, some with balconies, that look out into the bamboo for a natural, holistic environment. ‘overall, when asked to create an environment to experience a refined japanese-inspired lifestyle, we sought to use natural wood wherever possible, and bring greenery inside the atrium to create a sort of natural urban oasis, contrasting with the overwhelming metropolis outside,’ explains the maison h.

project info:

architects: maison h

team: martijn de geus, zidi han, simon henstra, sofie krog buskov, lingyun peng, marie selvig, victor tee, han zhang

contractor: 1011 architecture design

area: 400 sqm

location: china, beijing, wangjing district

photography: martijn de geus

video: maison h

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maison h’s co-founder martijn de geus will be speaking at designboom x MINI LIVING’s ‘how to create a sense of home – architecture in the age of global nomads‘ talk on wednesday september 26th from 17:30 at the china house vision exhibition in beijing.