international studio antistatics architecture collaborated with artist yue minjun to complete a new ‘I DO’ retail store in china, defined by its impressive sculptural façade. standing as an eye-catching structure, a life-size steel lattice elephant —with his head popping out on the bustling street— marks the storefront of the building.

employing large-scale wax 3D printing and investment casting, the final design shapes a sparse yet organic framework inspired by cellular biology and the atomic structures of the diamond. along with the outstanding structure, undulating white ribbons are wrapped around the openings, inviting passers-by to an inspiring experience.

visitors are drawn to the space through the outstanding elephant formation visible throughout the bustling urban environment of central wuhan

all images courtesy of dachou wang

the white ribbons on the façade, generate visual continuity to the carved-out interior, enveloping the guests in a smooth fluid cave-like environment. upon entering the store, the back part of the sculpture leads the gazes upwards. spanning nine meters in height, the structure penetrates the floor plate and emerges like a tree on the upper floor.

a twisting staircase entices the visitors to climb up, and observe in detail the intricate shape of the sculpture that features two of the artist’s signature works — two figures intimately crouching on each other’s shoulders act as gestures of love and joy. these silhouettes, not to mention ‘the peaceful elephant’, symbolically represent wisdom, strength, and unity at the junction point between architecture, art, and technology.

the façade night lighting effect features artist yue minjun’s signature laughing face

made of robotically milled formwork, the strips embrace the glazing allowing natural daylight to trickle in, and air circulation to run properly. the design team framed the glass displays in the interior with brass geologic formations, to emphasize the contrast with the smooth all-white walls. in fact, in some points, the screens are integrated into the walls, like emerging from the eroded spatial constructs. the furniture follows the same strategy employing geometric formations while using hand-crafted processes for their construction.

‘the façade, interiors and detailing of the spaces declare themselves to the world as a new potential for how we might come to understand not the segregation of thoughts and ideas, rather how cross-pollinated ideation and multi-disciplinary collaboration between each other can offer a way forward, celebrating our differences and sharing our common goals of love, happiness and inspiration,’ 

the ‘I DO’ artist store blends uniquely spatial and sculptural elements to create a highly expressive, embracing, and inspiring experience

visitors are drawn to the space through the outstanding elephant formation visible throughout the bustling urban environment of central wuhan

upon closer inspection, the continuation of the figure into the interior entices the observer to investigate further the interior environments, where one is removed from the excitation of the street

the detail and precision of the unprecedented sculpture pierces through the floor plate with yue min jun’s signature figures

lighting color changes through the gaps of the ‘cave surface’

within the space, a smooth and fluid cave-like space is carved out of the interiors wrapping the visitors in a continuously fluid environment and drawing people through the floor plan

name: I DO artist store ‘the peaceful elephant’ 

design principal: martin miller, mo zheng

collaborated artist: yue min jun

design team: yasser hafizs, theodorius e. d. santoso, christopher beckett, annie liu, demi chang, arthur yang

fabricator: hangzhou dikesheng culture and art co., ltd+ wenzhou zaomeng technology co., ltd

GRG supplier: E-grow shanghai 

client: I DO (hiersun group)

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: christina petridou | designboom

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