AIM architecture curated an exhibition in shanghai‘s xuhui district to celebrate its 15th anniversary and 15 years of architecture, interior design, and furniture projects. over three floors and 400 sqm (4306 sqft), exhibition ‘project no.0378’ invited visitors to experience the design journey of AIM’s founders, wendy saunders and vincent de graaf.
images by tian fangfang and zhu runzi
the exhibition began on the second floor with an ‘indoor landscape’ dedicated to AIM‘s founders, their design approach, and the people they work with every day. the space was populated by a multi-level table constructed from 16,000 coconut bricks — an environmentally friendly material made from coconut husks. in contrast to the raw bricks, AIM added 10 brushed stainless steel trays complete with reading lights to display models and other exhibits.
the third floor of the exhibition was named ‘raw’ and it was composed of three mirrored rooms. the rest of the space was left untouched in an effort to reflect the core of AIM’s identity: raw yet refined and elegant. creating an engaging dialogue between the original building and the mirrored rooms, visitors were invited to walk through and discover the projects exhibited inside.
the fourth and last floor, ‘AIM canteen’, was dedicated to the city of shanghai, where the design studio is headquartered. a bold yet fresh vision of its community, where people could gather and celebrate AIM’s 15th anniversary. in the middle of this room were 14 pixel tables — one of the studio’s signature pieces that was exclusively re-produced for the event. the tables were also up for sale, allowing visitors to take a part of the experience back home.
‘the exhibition is inspired by buildings and their future: their ambiguity, ever changing – always questioning. here we celebrate their power, blurring boundaries, their disruptiveness and being the creators of social change. seeing buildings for what they really are: ever-evolving structures, never static. as we are. structures that are reprogrammed, redefined, reimagined, reinvented, reframed. as we are. buildings as rebels, creating new urban landscapes, creating new possibilities of use. as we do,’ said AIM architecture. exhibition ‘project n.0378’ was on view from march 5 – 28, 2021.
project info:
name: project n.0378
location: 55 wukang road, xuhui district, shanghai, china
architect: AIM architecture
GFA: 400 sqm (4306 sqft)
dates: march 5 – 28, 2021
photography: tian fangfang, zhu runzi
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lynne myers | designboom
