The Taicang apartment by office ZHU, is a renovation project of an existing double storey residence in Taicang, Jiangsu. Office ZHU?s design intervention provides their clients with ample space to escape the city and reconnect, whether on a weekend retreat or holiday family visits. Photography by Siyu Zhu, Linang Guo.

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For the young Shanghai based clients, the leading design driver for the project was a desire to create a relaxed environment, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Nestled in the wide and heavily landscaped streets of Taicang, the apartment?s surroundings offer a welcome break from the density of Shanghai. Additionally, the existing housing typology in the area offers luxuriously high ceilings. The Taicang apartment is no exception, boasting a double height, light-filled internal living space ? a perfect base for a spacious and fluid atmosphere. In order to fully express the apartments existing spatial character, Office Zhu took a paired back, minimalist approach. The architects? began by compressing the existing stair to a single run. The gained space was then utilised for open library shelving on the upper level and a bar counter on the ground floor.
Joinery was correspondingly restricted to the perimeter, while walls and sliding doors were reduced to a bare minimum. Instead, the use of low level furnishings define functional areas, further exaggerating the internal volume. The design also fl...