Excerpt: ARK Club, an interior design project by VGC Design, utilizes advanced technological design to create an immersive, futuristic experience. The designer explores the concept of time and life in the project, creating a transcendent space that floats in the river of time and space. Like an ark carrying the strength of life, the space is designed to help people rejuvenate and sustain life.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] “Ark” is a medical aesthetics pharmaceutical corporate club located on the top floor of a single commercial building. It integrates functions such as showcasing corporate strength, displaying flagship products and entertaining guests. Using modern technological design techniques, it provides an immersive experience that transcends the present and ventures into the future. Designer Michael Chen started working on the “Ark” project in 2022. During that special lockdown, he fused his many thoughts on life and destiny into the project’s conception.
Human imagination of the universe is based on the exploration and thinking of our own existence. The lifespan is constrained by time, which is a fundamental law of the universe. Therefore, it is a lifelong quest for humanity to slow the wear and tear of time in life effectively. In this project, the designer adopted “time and life” as the theme and created a transcendent space. Like an ark carrying the strength of life, it floats in the river of time and space, waiting for people to board, get rejuvenated, and sustain life.
Part 01: Femtosecond Hall
“Seconds” are the pulse of time, beating in the boundless sky. The “Second Ring” is the main installation of the lobby, with its scale shining backwards. The “Waterfall of Light” is sprinkled with stars flowing backwards, symbolizing the reverse of time and space at this moment.
The “Second Ring” intertwines with the stainless steel columns, presenting a dynamic scene. The waterfall-like light and shadows echo the “Second Ring”. Together with the interweaving lights, they give a tangible sense of the passage of time.
Part 02: Temple of Time
“All matter originates from a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds them together. Behind this force exists a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.” The entire space is constructed with various types of circles, forming a field in physics. The curved stainless steel wall panels reflect light, injecting flowing energy into the space. When touched with fingers, the LED screens display different visual effects and change with different angles of observation, allowing deeper interactions between viewers and the space. This space emphasizes human presence despite the modern technological ambience.
“The nature of the future is the unknown. When you feel the unknown, you see the future.” The “Ark”, originating from mythology, carries the energy of life and wisdom, and represents the dawn of an unknown new era.
Part 03: Starlight Hall
The side glass walls present the traditional cosmology of “round heaven and square earth”. The black stone floor creates a profound effect reminiscent of the earth through the reflection and projection of lights. Breaking traditional furniture forms, the designer arranges the tables in the multifunctional hall in the form of scattered planets. Mobile tables and chairs can move like planets, changing the layout of the space for meetings, entertainment and other functions, thus offering guests a unique experience.
Part 04: Ethereal Hall
In the club, besides the showcasing exhibition hall, there is also a welcoming reception that makes guests feel at home. In the Song Dynasty, people “watch the meal” to stimulate their appetite before eating. At this moment, the dining table shows “magnificence”, allowing guests to feel “the greatest of life, from the micro to the macro.”
The reflection of honeycomb mirror panels expands the space, providing guests with an experience akin to:
in the sky sparkles the star;
in the vastness echoes the ethereal sound;
in the clouds lies the exquisite food;
in the twinkles of light toast is proposed.
Part 05: Fang Yuan
Shunmyo Masuno once said: “We need to find out the contemporary nature of gardens, always be contemporary and even ahead of the time.” The white surface and ground of the architecture are particularly prominent against the dark sky. Streamlined white strips go through the outdoors, like star trails left when passing through a wormhole. Carefully selected and arranged plants evoke a vivid sense of alien planets and the future.
How precious it is that the “Ark” owns this “Fang Yuan”! It connects the interior and exterior, sailing through the past and into the future.
Drawings
Images
