Office: Kokaistudios | ArchDaily

Xintiandi Dongtaili Mall / Kokaistudios

Valeria Silva — Sun, 17 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

XINTIANDI DONGTAILI: Revitalizing Urban Memory Through Contemporary Design. XINTIANDI DONGTAILI marks a new chapter in the evolution of one of Shanghai's most iconic neighborhoods. More than a commercial development, it is a reimagining of urban space: socially engaged, architecturally contextual, and rooted in the vision of a Total Community. Through an integrated approach spanning architecture, interior, and urban strategies, the project cultivates a walkable environment—one that invites daily encounters and a deeper sense of place within the city's landscape.

Beijing Poly Plaza / Kokaistudios

Pilar Caballero — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 20:00:00 +0000

As the city of Beijing has expanded, buildings constructed decades ago are no longer fit for purpose. To properly resonate with the recent wave of residential and office buildings that have risen around Beijing Poly Plaza, Kokaistudios has worked to adapt and renovate these structures by opening them up, expanding their core functionality, and incorporating entirely new work and public space elements via a series of precise internal carvings.

NIO Delivery Center / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 20:00:00 +0000

At over 12,000 sqm, it is the brand’s largest and is located on the site of a former factory in Jiading district. As well as building a new and iconic facade, Kokaistudios’ renovation extended to creating welcoming, functional interiors for the facility’s ground floor public space. Dynamic, open, and with a strong focus on hospitality, the interiors are in keeping with a design template developed for NIO by Kokaistudios last year and debuted at NIO House in Jinan. In Shanghai, these elements combine to transform a previously unremarkable industrial site into an eye-catching brand beacon, all the while delivering on NIO’s user-first concept.

Commercial Podium in East Alley of Shanghai Suhe MixC World / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Located in the northeast corner of multidimensional Suhe MixC World in Shanghai — an ‘urban valley’ comprising an underground commercial center set within a brand new green land for the city — this mixed-use Commercial Podium in East Alley (hereinafter referred to as “side building”) acts a gateway to physically and aesthetically connect its wider site, revealing the underground commercial valley to the urban public space. A destination in its own right, the side building also draws on various elements of its surroundings including the linear design language of a neighboring landmark tower and green space to blur boundaries between architecture and nature, inside and out, public and private.

Shanghai Suhe MixC World / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 01:00:00 +0000

Located on Shanghai’s Suzhou Creek, Shanghai Suhe MixC World blurs boundaries between the city’s past, present, and future. The project’s starting point was rethinking commercial spaces to better integrate with their surroundings. The resulting ‘urban valley’ presents a brand-new public space in the city and sets a new benchmark for Shanghai. In 2016, Kokaistudios was invited to participate in a competition for an underground shopping mall in Suhe Creek Green land. Instead, the design opted to present a brand-new public space in the city: a riverside green land with cultural and leisure facilities, incorporating a subterranean commercial area. Property developer CRLand preferred Kokaistudios’ vision for an ‘urban valley,’ the floor of which is a subterranean commercial space that merges into its green land surroundings through a series of stepped slopes.

CITIC SQUARE Renovation / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 22:00:00 +0000

Kokaistudios’ recently completed architectural renovation project of the CITIC SQUARE shopping mall epitomizes Shanghai’s inherent duality. With a futuristic aesthetic combining multimedia elements and some of today’s most sought-after brands, it sits seamlessly alongside one of the city’s best-preserved examples of traditional, historic lane housing. Located in the Jingan district on the main thoroughfare Nanjing West Road, the transformed building’s pixel-inspired facade and carefully selected materials break the traditional ‘box’ shape to blur the boundaries between city and mall, public and private. Completed in 2000, the mall lacked several of the elements demanded by today’s lifestyle-led retail environment: flexible multimedia components; attractive outdoor spaces; and eye-catching interiors for high-profile, luxury F&B outlets. Kokaistudios’ interior and exterior renovation not only brings the mall up to date in terms of a destination shopping-hospitality experience, it successfully reintegrates CITIC SQUARE into the fabric of Shanghai by opening up previously hidden vistas and playing on the scale to complement the mall’s layered urban context.

Beijing CR Land Galleria Shopping Center – Instreet Renovation / Kokaistudios

罗靖琳 — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 19:00:00 +0000

Building on a solid reputation for urban regeneration and renewal, Kokaistudios recently breathed new life into an overlooked and underused Beijing street. Drawing on design interventions including a network of canopies and increased seating, the project overhauls a neglected district to set a new benchmark for China’s public spaces.

Baoshan WTE Exhibition Center / Kokaistudios

罗靖琳 — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A first milestone in a multifaceted mixed-use project, Baoshan Exhibition Center preserves the industrial legacy of Baosteel’s Shanghai site, while setting the stage for its future functions. Through imbedding new architecture volume, as well as in-built flexibility, Kokaistudios’ structure sets a precedent for this landmark project.

Anting New Town Central Square Renovation / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 21:00:00 +0000

Kokaistudios’ recent urban renewal project in Anting saw the upgrading and refurbishment of the satellite town’s central square. Through a series of interventions, including a landmark centerpiece, the design connects the oversized space to its environs by extending and defining its four axes. The effect has proven transformative, elevating the once underused, ill-equipped space from an empty expanse, to a vibrant hub.

Tsinghua University's Law Faculty Library / KOKAISTUDIOS

舒岳康 - SHU Yuekang — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 20:00:00 +0000

In 2014, Kokaistudios won an international architectural and interior design competition to build the Law Library of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Comprising a trio of functions - research, teaching, and office space - the building recalls both traditional printing blocks, as well as the Chinese capital’s signature hutongs and courtyards. Defined and connected by a series of voids, it is a striking addition to this most prestigious of campuses.

Social House by Xintiandi / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 20:00:00 +0000

Hybrid and holistic, Social House by Xintiandi is a multifunctional space comprising retail, F&B, and lifestyle elements. Positioned across two floors of the recently renovated Xintiandi Plaza in Shanghai’s central business district, the venue has been designed for openness and exchange, bringing the vitality of outside, in. Elegant and feminine in aesthetic, it takes visitors on a layered journey that caters to mind, body, and soul. From the group behind Xintiandi, a pioneering urban renewal project and car-free commercial district in central Shanghai, Social House immerses visitors into a narrative crafted through circulation and flow, punctuated by focal points of activity. Together, these elements create a unique, constantly evolving destination that is fast becoming a cultural and lifestyle hotspot in China’s most dynamic metropolis.

Shanghai Shimao Festival City Renovation / Kokaistudios

Collin Chen — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 22:00:00 +0000

After winning global acclaim for both K11 in Shanghai, as well as Beijing's COFCO Plaza, Kokaistudios once again brings its expertise in shopping mall renovation to China’s increasingly lifestyle-driven retail scene. The firm's recent renovation of Shimao Festival City in Shanghai illustrates this contemporary crossroads, and demonstrates how by expanding malls’ functionality and reconsidering circulation, these sizeable structures can be reabsorbed by the city as useful public spaces of engagement and exchange.

Capella Jianyeli / Kokaistudios

舒岳康 - SHU Yuekang — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Having established our base in Shanghai in 2002 to work on the renovation of the Bund 18 building; Kokaistudios has since the outset worked as one of the leading firms working on adaptive re-use projects and advocating for the preservation and innovative reuse of Shanghai’s built heritage. Following the receipt of our second UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage award for the renovation of the Huaihai Lu 796 project in Shanghai Kokaistudios was approached by the client to conduct a feasibility study for the restoration and transformation of a traditional Shanghainese “shikumen lilong” Jianyeli (west part) into a luxury hospitality destination.

Cofco Plaza Renovation / KOKAISTUDIOS

罗靖琳 — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:00:00 +0000

COFCO Plaza was built in 1996 and it occupies one of the best locations in the city; located 1 KM from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square along Jianguomen street at the cross with Chang’an Avenue. Kokaistudios has completed the architectural and interior design renovation of the COFCO Plaza building in Beijing.

Altlife Bookstore in Ningbo / Kokaistudios

罗靖琳 — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:00:00 +0000

Kokaistudios designed for Alt-Life Bookstore in Ningbo celebrates space fluidity and variety, organic geometries and the notion of circulation as a journey, the ultimate 'people mover', the drive capable, through curiosity, to spark and sustain life in public spaces as well as in commercial venues.

Kunming Rubber Factory Renovation / Kokaistudios

胡天宝 — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 22:00:00 +0000

An urban renewal project in the dense area of a post- industrial city

Brasserie Restaurant / Kokaistudios

Sabrina Leiva — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Kokaistudios is delighted to announce the opening of our first project with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts; the Brasserie restaurant and lounge, core of the new outstanding Four Seasons resort and residence in the heart of the heritage district of Kyoto; the ancient capital city of Japan. Having visited some of our award winning projects across Asia the Four Seasons team invited Kokaistudios three years ago to conceive an innovative F&B product that could integrate breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, fine dining and lounge in one space.

Xintai Warehouse Renovation / Kokaistudios

HE Shen 何珅 — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 19:00:00 +0000

The project is located in Shanghai, on the North bank of the Suzhou Creek. The area, once the vibrating industrial engine of the colonial Shanghai, is today undergoing an unprecedented and controversial process of transformation, where consistent portions of the original urban fabric, 'carpets' of shikumen intertwined with warehouses and industrial artifacts, are being cancelled together with the memory they represent, replaced by high rise residential and office towers.