Hors Categorie Cycling Club

Suzhou, China
Architects
Parallect Design
Location
江苏省苏州市吴江区苏州湾大剧院底层西侧, Suzhou, China
Year
2024

This project is located on the side of the Suzhou Bay Theatre Lakeside Trail in Wuzhong District, Suzhou City. This area is a must-visit route for cycling enthusiasts around Taihu Lake. As the owner is also a cycling enthusiast, they have long harbored the dream of establishing a cycling rest stop here. The station not only serves as a resting harbor for cyclists, but also functions as a maintenance space for road bikes and a gathering place for enthusiasts, deeply integrating and serving the cycling culture community.

The space is divided into two main areas. One side is primarily dedicated to bicycle maintenance, while the other side serves as a customer rest area with a coffee bar. The distinct spatial characteristics are arranged in a chronological manner to meet the needs of the target customers: both people and bikes should have the opportunity to rest.

The club's design requirement is quite direct: "industrial style." Based on this requirement, we must define what industrial style means to us. Our understanding of industrial style emphasizes precision; industrialization is an organizational form that emphasizes efficiency and standardization, and we believe that industrial style cannot abandon this typical characteristic. Therefore, we choose to present our vision of industrial style design through a highly modular approach. Thanks to well-developed industrial support, we can easily prefabricate standardized and regulated furniture.

By carefully planning the flow of people and bikes, we consolidate the functions related to bikes on one side and plan a simple and smooth pedestrian flow line and a combined pedestrian and bike flow line. Based on this, we lay out a grid on the floor plan, precisely standardize the functional areas and furniture dimensions, and build an efficient and orderly spatial order to ensure seamless service processes, efficiency, and a sense of order, enhancing the overall user experience.

With prefabricated props as the main focus, metal materials stand out for their high strength, durability, and malleability, playing a crucial role in building the framework and creating a tough texture and pioneering atmosphere. Birch wood boards, with their warm texture and natural grain, soften the industrial hardness, infusing the space with a warm and friendly atmosphere, jointly establishing the style's main tone.

The color scheme consists of a combination of gray and natural wood colors. The gray micro-cement-covered walls are stable and understated, while the dark-colored coatings on structural columns and equipment layers create a strong contrast. The natural wood color of the birch wood boards intersperses and harmonizes, creating a peaceful and soothing visual field, enhancing the overall sense and style recognition of the industrial style's simple and rustic charm.

All furniture is uniformly made using 30mm*30mm aluminum profiles and 18mm birch wood boards, with a module of 500mm. Using a 500*500*450 low table as the basic unit, several differently shaped shelving units with various functions are created. Modularization ensures interchangeability and combination flexibility, allowing users to freely assemble as needed, giving the furniture diverse functions and dynamic adaptability, meeting diverse scene requirements, and enhancing flexibility and resource utilization.

By simulating in 3D, steel wire ground platform installation positions are locked, laser-cut perforations for prefabrication are processed, and precise on-site assembly is achieved. The top metal mesh device is positioned by pulling the metal wire on-site, with adjustment space reserved on the grid slide rail, achieving the optimal display effect and unified installation convenience, demonstrating the efficient and precise advantages of industrial prefabricated assembly.

On the banks of Suzhou Bay, the Hors Categorie Cycling Club overlooks the lake, marking the beginning of a long cycling journey around the lake. The design, with modular precision as its ink, precisely outlines the efficient profile of the motorcycle repair area and the leisurely atmosphere of the rest area. Metal stands as the backbone, while birch wood adds warmth, composing a harmonious symphony of industry and nature. The spatial layout follows functional flow lines, dynamically composing an orderly chapter; the gray tones of micro-cement, in the interplay of light and shadow, blend into a tranquil poetry. Prefabricated furniture and installations are like creative building blocks, flexible and changeable, unlocking the realm of diverse functions.

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