Chez Moi Center

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

CHEZ MOI CENTER

R-bas

ARCHITECTS
R-bas

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Ryan Wu, Yibo Yang

MEP DESIGN
Daqian Construction

GAS SYSTEM DESIGN
China Resources Zhengzhou Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute

CLIENT
Chez Moi

MANUFACTURERS
LG Hausys, Jinhe, Nippon

WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE
R-BAS

DESIGN TEAM
Haifang Cao

PHOTOGRAPHS
Arch-Exist

AREA
536 m²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Dalian, China

CATEGORY
Store, Interior Design

R-BAS celebrated the completion of the Chez Moi project in Donggang, Dairen (Dalian). This project covers architecture alteration and interior design of a baking workshop, a bistro, a culinary classroom, and a community cultural centre.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Chez Moi means ‘at my home’ in French. The client’s expected atmosphere is to ‘go all the way to share a stove on a winter’s night’.

Therefore, it is conceived as a harbour of community affections that aims to improve the distant neighbourhood relations of this newly developed quayside residential district.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Chez Moi is envisaged as a place shared and hosted by Donggang residents to connect through a variety of arts, cultural and educational activities together with the display of local agricultural produce.

The venue also provides an authentic European-style bistro catering service that focuses on Slow Food philosophy.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

At the initial stage of design, the architect pondered: ‘how does architecture define a community?’ A community is an assemblage of homes linked by internal streets and communal spaces that lead to the public territory.

R-BAS thus creates a comprehensive landscape to fulfill this purpose.The side façade incorporates a large glass curtain wall to cancel the boundary between the inside and the outside as sunlight pours directly into the dining area.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Geometric table and chair sets made of ash plywood and solid wood are placed in the middle of the southeast-facing rue principale.

The exposed aggregate concrete, common in civic parks of Northeastern's collectivisation movement in China, is laid openly on the floor.Paths extend from outdoor to indoor, a welcoming gesture of openness to the surroundings.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Functional zones are converted into individual housing volumes.

The adjoining white pitched roofs and random windows reconfigure the classic residential units, and in doing so, create a charming roadside neighbourhood system that blends natural timber with a monochromatic paint finish to demonstrate its sheer beauty.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

The main entrance, the bar, and la scène constitute a triple borrowed scene on the ground floor.

La scène (the street square) in the centre of the space provides a stage for sharing sessions, small-scale performances, family recreation, and other social services, aiming to stimulate the vitality of the community and enable the self-renewal of Donggang’s organisations on a primary level.

The existing building has been altered entirely. R-BAS has designed a sophisticated combination of heavy and light steel structures to meet the height differences of multiple split levels.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Due to commercial concerns, the original atrium is removed. A 15m high concrete frame structure is inserted as a lift shaft for the convenience of upper floor tenants.

The ground floor is accessed through a restrained entryway on the side, taking into account the frigid northwest wind of a typical winter in Manchuria.

The quintessential Dairen lifestyle has been significantly influenced by history and the near-sea trade to a distinctly Japanese disposition; therefore, the interior design depicts such intriguing intercultural identity and directionality.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist

Doma as well as rustic coffered ceiling defines the transition of spaces. The white vertical-patterned plastic sliding doors, familiar to locals and Northeast Asian rural houses, are reinterpreted by R-BAS with reeded glass.

Handmade mosaic tiles are used in some rooms, conveying the aesthetics of Arts and Crafts and the sense of ‘home’.

Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist
Chez Moi Center
© Arch-Exist


Chez Moi Center
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Chez Moi Center
GF axonometric


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