Black Void presents its first solo exhibition, The Sky, Oscillating, at the historic Bund·City Hall as part of the 24th China Shanghai International Arts Festival. The interdisciplinary collective, founded and directed by Yixuan Cai, with partner Yuhan Xiao and core member Yun Hong, brings together practitioners from digital media, architecture, data science, and music. The exhibition gathers more than ten works developed across three years of research, using light, atmospheric data, and spatial installation to examine the relationship between natural systems and human-made infrastructures.

Set within the century-old building in Shanghai, the exhibition uses the existing architecture as an active framework. Daylight passing through the hall’s arched windows gradually shifts the atmosphere from gold to orange to blue, creating a temporal backdrop for three chapters: Stellar Solar Impulse, Extraterrestrial Life, and Atmospheric Echo. Moving shadows and projected visual layers interact with the stone surfaces, linking historical materiality with the exhibition’s focus on environmental change. The curatorial approach centers on clouds, carbon, light, and electricity, elements treated not as effects but as carriers of information. The works trace how these natural forces are reshaped by industrial production, digital networks, global energy systems, and conflict. Solar radiation becomes electrical output through silicon wafers; human activity contributes aerosols, emissions, micro-particles, and electromagnetic signals to the atmosphere; and speculative biological agents on Mars highlight future intersections between ecology and technology.

The Burning Iris, installation close-up, 2025 | all images courtesy of Black Void

Black Void Visualizes Hidden Energies Behind Our Technologies

One newly debuted work by creative studio Black Void examines the ‘politics of heat and light’ through a system that combines photovoltaic data, information-infrastructure records, and solar-activity measurements. Using ecological, energy, and computational data from Phoenix, Arizona (2014–2024), the installation presents a dual-ring structure: the inner ring responds to photovoltaic generation and data-center electricity consumption, while the outer ring visualizes sunspot activity and temperature. The system reflects the dependency of digital operations on environmental conditions, illustrating how solar power, heat waves, and sandstorms can affect energy supply and communication systems. Another work draws from glassblowing processes, likening the stress patterns within cooled glass to the distribution of heat and light in natural systems. Under optical devices, each piece refracts the tension generated between hot and cold states, suggesting parallels with cycles of energy dissipation in living organisms. A separate installation investigates Martian fungi through digital simulation, ecological modeling, and speculative archaeology. Using generative software, the team imagines fungal forms adapting to radiation, electromagnetic waves, and mineral substrates. The piece includes a digital growth system, 3D-printed sculptures, a Martian meteorite (Shergottite, provided by 4.5B Interstellar Lab), and a film set within an orange-red environment.

The Burning Iris, installation, 2025

Rendering Global Climate Shifts in Color, Motion, and Mist

The exhibition concludes with a chapter that shifts attention from outer space back to Earth’s atmosphere. Based on Copernicus satellite data, the work analyzes atmospheric changes during events such as the Amazon wildfires, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Los Angeles smog episodes. Using ten years of data from 300 global cities, including greenhouse-gas concentrations, aerosol levels, humidity, and geolocation, the design team generates digital cloud sculptures that translate atmospheric conditions into form, color, and motion. This final section also includes a multimedia theater piece combining indoor cloud-generation techniques, microclimate control, and audiovisual components. Thermal sensors and controlled airflow operate as spatial tools, producing clouds that accumulate and disperse in response to environmental parameters.

Throughout the exhibition, Black Void positions natural elements as information systems. Clouds register environmental change through condensation cycles; sunlight interacts with technological infrastructure via photovoltaic surfaces; and computational processes release heat back into the environment. By examining these exchanges, the collective highlights the interdependence between natural instability and technological regulation. Black Void’s research extends beyond the exhibition venue, involving fieldwork at solar-thermal facilities in Delingha (Qinghai), the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station, and Shenzhen’s mangrove reserves, as well as collaborations with meteorological institutions, photovoltaic networks, and meteorite laboratories. This cross-disciplinary approach forms the foundation of The Sky, Oscillating, positioning the exhibition at the intersection of environmental data, spatial installation, and material research.

The Burning Iris, installation, close-up, 2025

‘Phoenix, Flowing into the Mouth of Computation’ Solarcene series, data-driven generative video installation, 2025

‘Phoenix, Flowing into the Mouth of Computation’ Solarcene series, data-driven generative video installation, 2025

‘Phoenix, Flowing into the Mouth of Computation’ Solarcene series, data-driven generative video still, 2025

Biosphere 3, Installation, The Sky, Oscillating exhibition, 2025

Biosphere 3, film, The Sky, Oscillating exhibition, 2025

Twin Cloud-London, Digital Art, Black Void, 2024

The Sky, Oscillating exhibition, Clouds Memoir, Video Poem Still, Black Void

Twin Cloud, Video Still, Black Void, 2022-2025

The Sky, Oscillating exhibition, Clouds Memoir, Video Poem Still, Black Void

Clouds Memoir, Video Poem Still, Black Void

project info:

name: The Sky, Oscillating / Solo Exhibition

artist: Black Void | @bv_blackvoid

event: The 24th China Shanghai International Arts Festival

venue: Bund Former City Hall, 223 Hankou Road, Shanghai, China

dates: October 31st – November 23rd, 2025

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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Chanel and the Power Station of Art (PSA) museum unveil a major new cultural destination in Shanghai: the Espace Gabrielle Chanel, mainland China’s first public library dedicated entirely to contemporary art and design. The 1,700-square-meter space, located on the transformed third floor of PSA, anchors the latest phase of the maison’s long-term partnership with the museum. Conceived by Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto, the library turns reading into a spatial experience; its signature feature is a slow, ascending path that folds bookshelves directly into a continuous ramp, encouraging visitors to wander, pause, and discover at their own rhythm.

all images courtesy of Power Station of Art (PSA)

PSA expands with a new center for art, design, and research 

The Power Station of Art (PSA) opens the library with more than 10,000 publicly accessible books and media drawn from a wider 50,000-item collection. Focused on contemporary art, design, architecture, culture, and the social sciences, the new resource emphasizes cross-disciplinary research and exchange between local and global perspectives. Above the reading space sits the Chinese Contemporary Art Documentation Center, which consolidates archival materials and research initiatives in collaboration with artists, curators, and scholars. Through exhibitions, talks, workshops, and publishing, the center, supported through Chanel’s partnership with the Shanghai-based museum, treats documentation as an active, evolving tool rather than a static record. For the French fashion maison, the project reinforces its long-term investment in cultural production and knowledge-sharing in China.

PSA’s wider third-floor renewal introduces three additional public functions. A redesigned 300-seat theater creates a flexible setting for film, performance, sound work, and hybrid formats that extend beyond conventional stage boundaries, connecting time-based practices with exhibition areas across the institution. Nearby, the updated hall for the Power Station of Design expands the museum’s long-standing engagement with design as cultural inquiry, providing an enhanced environment for larger exhibitions and cross-disciplinary collaborations examining urban life. Completing the transformation is a new 300-square-meter terrace backed by Chanel’s collaboration, offering a riverside café, family-friendly seating, and open views of the Huangpu River, a moment of calm carved into the former power plant’s industrial frame.

the 1,700-square-meter space is located on the transformed third floor of PSA

the Power Station of Art (PSA) opens the library with more than 10,000 publicly accessible books

the library turns reading into a spatial experience

PSA’s wider third-floor renewal introduces additional public functions

a redesigned 300-seat theater creates a flexible setting for film, performance, sound work

the Espace Gabrielle Chanel is mainland China’s first public library dedicated entirely to contemporary art and design

the art library serves as a major new cultural destination in Shanghai

project info: 

name: Espace Gabrielle Chanel 
brand: Chanel | @chanelofficial
architect: Kazunari Sakamoto
location: Power Station of Art (PSA) | @powerstationofart in Shanghai 

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Osmanthus Moon is a temporary public art installation by HCCH Studio, created to mark the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The project references the osmanthus flower, an emblematic plant associated with the season, and establishes a dialogue with the action paintings of a folk Zao Hua (stove flower) artist, a practice recognized as an element of intangible cultural heritage.

Located on the semicircular lawn of Century Park in Shanghai, the pavilion takes the form of a translucent dome reminiscent of a full moon. Its structural framework integrates stylized osmanthus motifs into a bronze lattice resembling intertwined vines. A lightweight, elastic fabric is stretched across the framework, forming a continuous, illuminated surface. The resulting form explores the intersection of traditional patterning and contemporary construction methods.

all images by Guowei Liu, PSA

Osmanthus Moon explores geometry, illumination, and heritage

The design references the ornamental language of the Vienna Secession while drawing on the geometric clarity of Buckminster Fuller’s domes. On the ground, the Zao Hua artist’s painted osmanthus patterns correspond to the bronze framework above, establishing a spatial and visual relationship between movement and structure, craftsmanship and fabrication.

Visitors enter through two irregular openings that lead to an enclosed interior space. During the day, filtered daylight produces a diffused glow across the fabric surface, creating a soft, evenly lit environment. At night, internal illumination transforms the pavilion into a semi-transparent volume defined by shifting shadows and gradients of light. Commissioned to Shanghai-based practice HCCH Studio by the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, Osmanthus Moon was presented as a twelve-day installation, serving as both a seasonal observance and an exploration of the relationship between natural motifs, material technology, and cultural continuity.

Osmanthus Moon by HCCH Studio celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival through architecture and light

the installation reinterprets the osmanthus flower, a seasonal symbol of autumn in Chinese culture

the pavilion’s translucent form evokes the appearance of a glowing full moon

a bronze lattice weaves stylized osmanthus motifs into an intricate structural framework

interlaced patterns resemble vines, merging organic imagery with architectural geometry

lightweight elastic fabric stretches over the bronze frame to form a luminous surface

by day, filtered sunlight produces a soft, evenly diffused interior glow

painted osmanthus motifs on the ground echo the bronze framework above

located in Century Park, Shanghai, the dome rests on a semicircular lawn like a descending moon

by night, internal lighting transforms the dome into a semi-transparent sphere of light

shadows and gradients animate the fabric surface as the light conditions shift

the project reflects HCCH Studio’s exploration of cultural continuity through material and form

Osmanthus Moon connects contemporary design with the heritage of Zao Hua, or stove flower painting

project info:

name: Osmanthus Moon

architect: HCCH Studio | @hcchstudio

design team: Hao Chen, Chenchen Hu, Feng Qi

client: Power Station of Art Shanghai

light consultant: ADA Lighting

contractor: Art ZHOU

dimensions: D7.2m; H3.6m

location: Century Park, Shanghai, China

photographer: Guowei Liu, PSA

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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Located in Fengcheng Town, Fengxian District, approximately 30 kilometers from central Shanghai, Joyful Community by GN Architects reimagines the typology of retirement living in China. Occupying 120,000 sqm on a former industrial site, the project transforms the area into a mixed-use urban hub integrating residential, medical, cultural, and recreational programs. Rather than creating an isolated senior community, the design positions the development as an inclusive environment for multiple generations, encouraging interaction between residents and the surrounding neighborhood.

Over the past decade, China has seen the rapid development of suburban retirement communities often characterized by social isolation and inward-facing layouts. Joyful Community responds to this trend by proposing a model of integration instead of separation. The design reframes senior living as part of a broader urban ecosystem, an accessible and open ‘village’ rather than a gated enclave. This shift was reflected even in naming: the project evolved from Joyful Community to Joyful Village, aligning with the operational concept of urban public service rather than community-based management. The architectural and planning approach emphasizes diversity and openness, encouraging flexible use and shared activity across different age groups.

all images by Liang Wenjun

GN Architects designs Elevated Pathways and Activity Loops

To foster connectivity, GN Architects studio employed an ‘inside–out’ spatial strategy. The community facilities are organized in a T-shaped configuration, extending toward the city while also penetrating the residential clusters within. This dual orientation maximizes both external visibility and internal accessibility, promoting interaction between public visitors and residents. The layout ensures that each residential cluster maintains independence while benefiting from shared amenities. Over time, the boundaries between ‘public’ and ‘private’ areas are designed to become more fluid, allowing parts of the site to gradually open to the wider community.

The masterplan integrates 22 independent architectural volumes, linked through a system of elevated and ground-level pathways. Three distinct circulation routes, an Activity Loop, Interest Loop, and Exploration Loop, connect these zones. Each loop serves as both a spatial connector and a social corridor, accommodating movement, recreation, and informal gathering. The Sports Complex at the main urban interface acts as a key public gateway. Transparent corridors span across its structures, creating the Activity Loop that visually and physically connects the facility. Within the central area, glass corridors and balcony bridges form a continuous elevated path among the 22 building clusters, while covered ground-level walkways weave through courtyards to form the Exploration Loop.

Joyful Community by GN Architects redefines the model of retirement living in China

Adaptive Spaces and Evolving Uses Define the Inclusive Urban Hub

Adaptability was a key objective of the design. The plan incorporates undefined and reprogrammable spaces across the site, including first-floor studios, transparent street-facing boxes, and wide corridors within the Sports Complex. These spaces are designed to accommodate a variety of future uses, such as cafés, workshops, or galleries, allowing the community to evolve through participation and reinterpretation. Recent updates demonstrate this flexibility: the nearby family farm has opened for community engagement, and upcoming exhibitions and artist residencies are planned within the library and studio spaces. This ongoing activation illustrates how Joyful Community continues to function as an open framework for collective use and renewal.

What began as an alternative to conventional ‘utopian’ senior housing has evolved into a prototype for inclusive urban living. Through open circulation, adaptive programming, and gradual integration with its context, Joyful Community blurs the boundaries between retirement residence and neighborhood center. The result is a development that accommodates aging while simultaneously contributing to the city’s social and spatial fabric.

22 architectural volumes are connected through elevated and ground-level paths

the masterplan integrates residential, medical, cultural, and recreational functions

the planning approach emphasizes flexibility, diversity, and shared activity

courtyards and covered walkways weave through the central clusters to form gathering spaces

transparent bridges and corridors connect the Sports Complex at the site’s entrance

the plan maximizes external visibility and internal accessibility across the site

an activity track expands on the roof of the Sports Complex

project info:

name: Joyful Community, Shanghai

architect: GN Architects

chief architects: Guan Yiqun, Shi Liang

design team: Cong Yanfei, Shi Zhenglei, Yuan Chengxiang, Yin Guilin

client: New Development Group

location: Fengxian District, Shanghai, China

photographer: Liang Wenjun

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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Located within Shanghai’s Xuhui district, Moreprk Skyline skatepark by AAN Architects introduces a new typology for urban sports spaces. Described as a ‘three-dimensional theater open to the city,’ the project expands the role of the skatepark beyond recreation, positioning it as an active social and architectural interface.

Elevated 20 meters above ground, the structure appears as a floating glass volume attached to a building facade overlooking the city’s highway. This suspended configuration reinterprets the skatepark as part of the vertical cityscape rather than its ground-level infrastructure.

all images by Lv Xiaobin

AAN Architects reimagines Shanghai’s skyline as skate contours

For the design, studio AAN Architects takes formal cues from Shanghai’s skyline, translating its contours into a series of curved banks, rolling slopes, and continuous surfaces that accommodate movement and flow. Fluidity forms the project’s main design language, expressed through fluid transitions between planes and edges that support various trajectories of skate and pedestrian activity.

Through this integration of form, structure, and movement, Moreprk Skyline explores how architectural design can transform urban sports facilities into spatial frameworks for interaction, visibility, and community engagement.

the project by AAN Architects redefines the skatepark as a vertical public space

located in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, the structure integrates sport and city life

the skatepark is described as a ‘three-dimensional theater open to the city’

the skatepark attaches to a building facade overlooking the city’s highway

suspended 20 meters above ground, the structure forms a floating glass volume

the design takes inspiration from the contours of Shanghai’s cityscape

curved banks and rolling slopes define the space’s movement-driven geometry

continuous surfaces create fluid transitions between skate zones

Moreprk Skyline introduces a new typology for urban sports architecture

project info:

name: Moreprk Skyline

architects: AAN Architects
lead architects: Junjie Yan, Yuxing Yi

location: Xuhui, Shanghai, China

photographer: Lv Xiaobin 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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At Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School in Shanghai, OLA Shanghai collaborated with LEGO China and NIKE to create a playground that integrates movement and creativity. The design takes inspiration from the form and logic of a simple 2×3 LEGO brick, translating its modularity into spatial and athletic functions.

Developed as part of NIKE’s Move to Zero initiative, the project aims to merge the concepts of play and physical activity. Modular elements derived from LEGO bricks are reinterpreted as adaptable structures for climbing, balancing, and exploration, encouraging children to construct their own routes and redefine how play spaces can support movement.

all images courtesy of LEGO China and NIKE

Modular components reconfigure into various play structures

The design also connects to LEGO China’s Build the Change workshop, where children used LEGO bricks to express ideas about play and design. Insights from the workshop informed the project’s emphasis on open-ended interaction, allowing students to experiment, collaborate, and transform even short breaks into moments of creative movement.

Through this collaboration between companies NIKE and LEGO China, the playground becomes both a learning environment and a flexible platform for exploration, reflecting how design can support the intersection of education, sustainability, and play.

the playground at Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School redefines the relationship between play and movement

OLA Shanghai designed the space in collaboration with LEGO China and NIKE

modular design principles guide both the spatial layout and the play structures

the design translates LEGO’s modularity into physical, scalable play experiences

each element encourages climbing, balancing, and active exploration

the project draws inspiration from the simple geometry of a 2×3 LEGO brick

children can create their own routes and patterns of movement

play and physical activity merge through flexible, open-ended structures

the playground promotes experimentation and collective play

open-ended interaction encourages creativity and problem-solving

modular components can be rearranged to support different play activities

the space adapts to both structured games and spontaneous exploration

LEGO x NIKE playground serves as a model for rethinking school-based play spaces

project info:

name: LEGO x NIKE Sports as Play in Shanghai Primary School

designer: Our LEGO Agency Shanghai (In-house Agency at the LEGO Group)

workshop: Build the Change by LEGO China

program: Move to Zero by NIKE

companies: LEGO | @lego x NIKE | @nike

school: Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School

location: Shanghai, China

head of LEGO Agency Asia: Annie Boo
creative director: Guo Jun
creative specialist: Bebe Wang
senior copywriter: Beck Deng
senior art director: Jace Wang
senior project manager: Karen Lin
project manager: Venice Choy

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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The Jialuo 110kV Power Substation in Juyuan New District, Jiading, Shanghai, has been reimagined by Ten Studio as Green Island, a project that integrates infrastructure, ecology, and public space. The design introduces a double-skin facade system that allows the utility building to function as both an energy generator and a civic amenity.

On the south and east facades, photovoltaic panels are installed to capture solar energy. Several of these panels are mechanically operable, adjusting their angle according to the season. During winter, they remain vertical to optimize solar gain, while in summer, they tilt open, creating shaded and rain-protected pedestrian areas. The north and west facades, which face residential zones, employ perforated aluminum cladding with built-in planting troughs. These elements form seasonal green walls that contribute to the building’s ecological performance while softening its visual impact.

aerial view | all images courtesy of Ten Studio

Ten Studio’s Green Island Substation acts as an Urban Park

The project extends beyond the building envelope to address its urban context. The southern facade projects outward, shielding the site from traffic along Jialuo Road and generating a linear street park. This park connects adjacent residential neighborhoods, a community plaza, and a kindergarten. Additional features include gabion walls with integrated seating, an inner courtyard, and landscaped edges, which transform the substation perimeter into accessible and safe public areas.

Materially, the design combines silver steel framing, aluminum alloy planters, metal mesh, and gabion stone walls to balance durability with ecological integration. More than 120% of the building’s roof area is covered by photovoltaic surfaces, paired with extensive planting systems to enhance environmental performance. Through the integration of renewable energy production, seasonal planting, and public programming, Green Island redefines the role of the substation within the city. Rather than remaining an isolated utility, the project by Ten Studio architectural practice operates as a functional, community-oriented, and ecologically active element of urban infrastructure.

street corner plaza | daytime

breathing & energy stored wall

street corner plaza

street linear open space | daytime

vehicular entrance and exit

internal vehicular road

growing wall

street corner plaza | nighttime

street linear open space | nighttime

project info:

name: Green Island | Jialuo 110kV Power Substation

architect: Ten Studio
design team: Xudong Zhu, Xingyu He, Yiqiu Wu, Jie Han
location: Shanghai, China

area: 1,012 sqm
client: State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company Jiading Power Supply Company

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The Sijing Town Sports Center, designed by Spanish architecture studio Selgascano, has won second prize for a site on the outskirts of Shanghai and conceived as a sustainable, human-scale landmark. Planned between transport routes and green corridors, the project emphasizes accessibility and active mobility, linking jogging paths, bike trails, and nearby parks into a wider network of wellness-focused public space.

In contrast to the surrounding high-density developments, the sports center introduces an architectural language rooted in openness and landscape integration. The design avoids vertical dominance, instead dispersing its program across a series of low, transparent pavilions with voluminous ETFE rooftops. Each volume is enveloped in greenery, aligning the project with the natural environment and creating a calm counterbalance to the speed and scale of the skyline beyond.

visualizations © Playtime

learning from the heritage of Sijing Town

With the layout of the Sijing Town Sports Center’s pavilions, Selgascano draws inspiration from traditional Chinese water towns. Here, bridges, courtyards, and walking paths structure daily life. These elements appear here as spatial rhythms that connect interior activity with outdoor circulation, reinforcing cultural continuity while supporting community use. By embracing the ground plane, the architects prioritizes human scale and sensory engagement over a monumental form that feels unwelcoming from the street.

Still, two sculptural and organic volumes serve as the project’s focal points. Their fluid geometry and bold presence establish a recognizable identity while remaining consistent with the horizontal composition. This balance allows the sports center to act as a landmark without relying on size, instead generating resonance through materiality, proportion, and atmosphere.

the sports center is located in Sijing Town, on the outskirts of Shanghai

the luminous etfe rooftop

The Sijing Town Sports Center is organized into distinct zones for swimming, multi-sport courts, and badminton, each designed with strong indoor-outdoor connections. Passive strategies and smart technologies support climate control and operational efficiency, while the material palette foregrounds environmental performance. ETFE membranes, recycled tartan, timber elements, and low-VOC finishes all contribute to the project’s sustainability goals.

Daylight is carefully integrated into the design, creating bright and animated interiors during daytime use. At night, artificial illumination transforms the pavilions into glowing beacons within the landscape. This duality reinforces the building’s civic role, ensuring that the center remains a visible and accessible point of orientation throughout the day.

Selgascano designs the proposal as a sustainable human-scale landmark

the complex integrates with jogging paths, bike trails, and nearby parks

the architecture consists of low, transparent pavilions surrounded by greenery

the bridges, courtyards, and walkways reference Chinese water towns

swimming, multi-sport courts, and badminton halls are linked with outdoor spaces

daylight and night lighting animate the interiors and define the building as a beacon

project info:

name: Sijing Town Sports Center

architect: Selgascano | @selgascano

location: Songjiang District, Shanghai, China

design team: Leandra Matas, María Andrés, Fabiana Perrogón, Juan Múzquiz, Iñigo Riveira, Paolo Tringali, Inés Olavarrieta

area: 14,500 square meters (156,000 square feet)

status: competition, second-prize

visualizations: © Playtime | @playtime.barcelona

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As part of the Shanghai Xintiandi Design Festival, MARS Studio, in collaboration with the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) Design School, developed Mirage, an interactive installation located in the lakeside green space of Shanghai Xintiandi. The project was led by designers Ma Ning and Yu Jiashi.

The installation references Cai Guoqiang’s pyrotechnic works, translating the visual language of fireworks into a series of staggered geometric forms. The composition captures the moment of a firework’s bloom, aligning with the festival’s theme, Boundless Playground, through a focus on interactivity and public engagement. Mirage is constructed from gradient nylon rope screens that create continuous, curved contours. The color palette, green, blue, and orange-red, was inspired by Henri Matisse’s La Gerbe and symbolises nature, sky, and flowers respectively. As visitors move around the work, the overlapping ropes produce shifting visual effects, blending colors and altering light perception.

all images by Guangyao Cao unless stated otherwise

Overlapping ropes transform Fireworks into architectural form

The design integrates a sound-responsive lighting system. Vibrations generated by movement and touch activate programmed lighting sequences, creating a link between environmental rhythms and visual output. The lighting is paired with an original composition by Yu Yibin of the XJTLU Design School, synchronising changes in color and brightness with musical patterns.

Through its combination of form, material, and sensory interaction, Mirage functions as a public space intervention that merges visual art, sound design, and participatory experience. The work, developed by the collaborative team between MARS Studio and XJTLU Design School, transforms the ephemeral qualities of fireworks into a lasting installation that responds to its surroundings and audience in real time.

Mirage at the Shanghai Xintiandi Design Festival | image by Nango

created by MARS Studio with XJTLU Design School

fireworks translated into staggered geometric forms

capturing the instant of a firework’s bloom

gradient nylon rope forms continuous curved contours

green for nature, blue for sky, orange-red for flowers

overlapping ropes create shifting visual effects

vibrations trigger programmed light sequences

changing light and color as visitors move

public art merging visual, sound, and interaction

project info:

name: Shanghai Xintiandi Design Festival Mirage
designer: MARS Studio | @mars.office, XJTLU Design School

location: Shanghai, China

design team: Ning Ma, Yu Jess, Tianqi Wang,  Shaohu Yang, Bohan Chen, Guangyao Cao, Yigao Liu

music: Yibin Yu, XJTLU SOFTA

video: Lin Ruefan, Alice Xiao

photography and filming: Guangyao Cao, Nango

drone filming: Design Shanghai

design partner: Bwee Technology

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In Shanghai, China, a new kind of coffee experience has emerged: the Captain George Flavor Museum, designed by spatial design studio Some Thoughts. This project is more than a coffee shop; it is a singular ecosystem centered on flavor, masterfully blending taste, design, and aesthetics. The museum’s entrance, designed as a recessed portal, prepares visitors for a journey ahead, while its vintage aesthetic — steeped in craftsmanship and a profound sense of history — eschews modern sleekness. This design transcends visual nostalgia, embodying a cultural reimagining of time and a spiritual dialogue with the past.

some thoughts blend time and flavor

The interior of Captain George Flavor Museum is thoughtfully segmented into three distinct zones: a casual coffee lounge, a retail area for custom-blended beans, and a dedicated brewing space. This careful arrangement, underpinned by a meticulous service framework, allows Captain George to connect with customers on a richer, more multidimensional level. Some Thoughts views specialty coffee as a counterpoint to efficiency, a celebration of time’s intrinsic value. Accordingly, the space weaves a narrative of ‘time and flavor’ through spatial arrangement, curatorial displays, lighting, and decorative elements to create a cohesive experience.

A harmonious blend of industrial and human elements defines the aesthetic. Custom black steel fixtures and coffee equipment bring a professional rigor, while the liberal use of vintage furniture and carefully selected artifacts imbues the space with warmth. In the retail area, an orderly array of black cast-iron cabinets symbolizes the brand’s relentless pursuit of quality and meticulous categorization. The back of the museum is a stage for the pursuit of perfect flavor. A long bar counter in the brewing room transforms the space into a centerpiece for interaction, where the sensory delight of patrons converges with the art of coffee. Ultimately, the Captain George Flavor Museum delivers an experience that is deeply human, timeless, and centered entirely on the celebration of flavor.

project info:

project: Captain George Flavor Museum
designer: Some Thoughts / @somethoughts_official

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: tim spears | designboom

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