Mountain and Sea Art Hall by Serendipper Design | Don Lei

China is an ancient country that attaches great importance to dredging, and its source can be traced back to the mythical story of emperor YU's taming of the flood. In China, the modern dredging industry originated in Tianjin. The project is located in the key area of Jizhou, the northernmost, most mountainous part of Tianjin.

As the core exhibition place of the real estate sales center, the designer transformed it into a different kind of art hall, using the Chinese Oriental fairy tales to deliver the spatial artistic concept. Serendipper serves as a soft decoration design for presenting the eastern temperament.

In accordance with the square architectural form of an inward courtyard, the interior space is divided into the enterprise exhibition hall, negotiation area, sand table exhibition area, and children's activity area.

Jingwei filled the sea

The highlight of the enterprise exhibition hall lies in the sculpture named 'Blue Sea', and the story behind it. The inspiration for the design is derived from a fairy tale: Jingwei Filled the Sea: A little girl died in a shipwreck on the Eastern Sea, and her spirit, transformed into a beautiful bird, cried sadly in the sound "jingwei, jingwei". The bird hated the sea so much that Jingwei decided to fill it up. Every day, the brave little bird kept carrying twigs and pebbles from the mountain to the sea without rest. From this fable comes the idiom "The bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea". Chinese culture uses the reference to describe people who are firm and indomitable, stopping at nothing until they reach their goal.

The experimental concept expresses the designer's ambition: the device body is a blue sea bench, with a unified function and form for viewers to sit; Around the bench, we can see the blue and white gradient, parabolic stacked "twigs and pebbles" trying to fill the "East Sea", represented by the marble floor. The device and the reflection complement each other and become a complete picture of "Jingwei fills the sea". It is designed to attract and maintain the attention of visitors, who will stay and be captivated by their surroundings.

Like the Kunpeng diving in the sea

In the center of the lobby of the negotiation area, the design inspiration of the mechanical interactive art device, "Future paddle", is derived from 'The Kunpeng' fairy tale, like a monster diving in the sea, swimming in the chaos, and thinking of truth. (The Kunpeng: A half-eagle, half-whale monster living in the North Ocean. It is thousands of meters long，changing shapes, flying high with the wind, and with the capacity to cause a tornado.)

The use of material language in the space design is full of ingenuity. The installation painting mimics layers of rock at the edge of the sea, piled up like waves in a storm.

In another art installation, a hanging painting, the overlapping elements of fish scales on the wall form a strong visual impact in the space, creating a feeling of people being like small fish swimming in a river of time.

Emperor YU tamed the flood

On the pillars of the sand table exhibition area, there is a small sculpture which integrates a building and boat called “The Growing Gem”. The small volume symbolizes a cohesion of power.

Next to it is a micro landscape installation, which is a short table decorated with wheat to represent the harvest. The 3D painting on the walls simulates the shape of the mountains and the sea, implying the geographical changes of Jizhou’s terrain, forming the famous standard strata section of the middle and upper Paleozoic dynasties. It is a tribute to the ancestors of Chinese culture, and the achievements of emperor Yu in flood control. (Emperor YU Tamed the Flood: Yu is the hero of flood control. In ancient China, an overrunning flood was mischievous, so Emperor Yu dredged new river channels as outlets, guiding water to the river, and from the river to the sea. This not only prevented the flood but contributed to the development of agriculture.)

 On the right, a historical stone painting of Dunhuang and a wooden conch sculpture with a mortise structure are displayed. Each art installation required a long time to make, therefore also representing determination and perseverance.

 The designer used familiar traditional elements in the form of abstracts, cracks, and transformations in collages in indoor elements, serving as a medium to guide the viewer and to provide space to talk on a spiritual level.

The wheel of time and space

 The interactive sculpture "Sailing" features a variety of ships. The track of the long voyage, with changing winds and clouds and the fragments of time, provide visitors with a three-dimensional picture scroll to feel the magnificent writing of The Times in the coordinates of time and space.

From seating indoors, you also can view the outdoor landscape of trees and water, interacting with nature and feeling the light refracted in the space and walls. A crystal desktop and vase ornaments of the mortise-tenon structure provide more blank-leaving imagination and add a sense of flow and vitality.

In the children's activity area, two giant “time wheel” bookshelves on a wool carpet symbolize the blue sky. The area is specifically designed for children to sit, play, and have fun in a kid-friendly atmosphere that makes them feel as easy as they enjoy the moment.

In this case, color, light, structure, art, and other elements are used in fusion in the space's creation. Drawing upon the myths of YU Tamed the Flood, Jingwei Fills the Sea, and The Kunpeng, the spaces are designed for people to walk, stop, and communicate in, creating a dialogue with the installation art in each space, and feeling the beauty of time and space in the form of Mountain and Sea Art Hall.

Technical sheet

Project name: Mountain and Sea Art Hall

Design company: Beijing Serendipper Decoration Design Group Co., Ltd

Design scope:  Interior furnishings and art devices design

Design principle: Don Lei

Design team: Duan Mingnan, Feng Lili, Fan Yajuan

Project address: Tianjin, China

Project area: 1,240 square meters

Client: Tianjin Zhongjiao Xincheng Construction and Development Co., Ltd

Client member: Yang Zhigang, Li Bo, Yanghai, Luo Xu, Cai Hongye

Photographer: Sean