FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

I Do Emergent Arts Retail Space

Responding to the program of the jewelry retail space, the project draws upon symbolically referential elements related to the extraction, manufacture, and distribution of rare stones, promoting awareness around the larger network inherent to the retail industry. The space features a massive 9m steel sculpture, custom fabricated displays, and furniture, creating an immersive artwork beyond the limitations of retail spaces.

Utilizing customized in-house computational tools, wax 3D printing, investment casting, CNC milling, and casting of Gypsum and GRC, the project realizes bio-inspired geometries using recyclable and proven materials such as stainless steel. The design challenges the potential of architecture as a communicative language, expressing ideas through space and pushing the boundaries of digital to physical fabrication methods and scales.

The project began in 2018, designed in Beijing, fabricated in Wuhan and Shanghai, and installed in Wuhan in 2021. It involved rigorous research into emerging capabilities of digital fabrication, developing a process for the production of large-scale, bio-inspired cellular lattices. The project overcomes previous limitations in the fabrication of complex steel forms, redefining what was possible for highly precise, structurally responsive design.

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