缦学堂城市驿站 MANXUETANG GUQIN ACADEMY SHOWROOM
MANXUETANG Academy teaches the art of guqin, a traditional Chinese instrument with more than 3000 years of history. The school was founded by Wu Na, a renowned contemporary guqin musician, to spread the slow learning of traditional Chinese music, and more globally to share a slow and mindful art of living, nurtured by the Buddhist philosophy.
MANXUETANG Academy Showroom aims to broaden the values of MANXUETANG Academy around China, by sharing teaching experiences in commercial environments, while limiting construction and operating costs. Each showroom needed to have standardized and recognizable brand design elements, be easy and inexpensive to implement, and be adaptable to a variety of spatial conditions. By visiting MANXUETANG Academy Showroom, potential future students should be able to learn about the curriculum and teaching features easily and immerse in the guqin spirit.
The space being less than ten square meters, our designer has to optimize the limited space to host small-scale classes and to convey as much as possible the unique educational positioning of MANXUETANG Academy. The design focuses on how to give the visitors a distinct and impressive feeling. The abstract lines of the guqin strings were used as design elements for the structure of the space. For the construction, our designer used mainly sustainable materials and rice paper. Furthermore, the several mirrors on the walls give the illusion that the space is larger.
The most distinctive design detail in the showroom is a light-transmitting paper window with a modern Chinese ink painting. This artwork combines guqin traditional music scores and plum blossom patterns, in tribute to the most renowned guqin music piece “Three variations of Plum Blossoms”. This artistic window embodies the inner world of ancient Chinese literati and calls for reverie. This artwork was designed by the talented Chinese ink painter Liu Xin we collaborate with.
Design proposal. 2018
