Dezeen Magazine

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz Architects

Japanese studio Noiz Architects has created a colourless clubhouse in China with patterned walls, a jumble of doorways and a chandelier that mimics a starry sky.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz_8

Designed to house the events and meetings of a private Chinese company, the Zhengzhou Clubhouse is a two-storey building with a triangular plan that centres around a double-height atrium.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz_8

Surfaces and objects throughout the building are finished in shades of white, cream and grey. The only splashes of colour come from golden door handles and the occasional painting.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz_8

"To make a contrast with the busy building exterior and surroundings, we decided to make the interior palette as colourless as possible," says Noiz Architects.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

A series of meeting rooms, dining areas and guest bedrooms wrap the central atrium, where an LED chandelier made from scores of glass beads hangs down from the centre of the ceiling.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

A selection of differently styled doorways lead through to each of these rooms and are intended to reference both historic and contemporary architecture from the west as well as the east. Some appear as three-dimensional forms, while others are created from printed outlines.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

"These images are intentionally treated as 'fake' information, and randomly mixed as 2D and 3D representations to provoke a unique experience between material and information, real and fake," says the studio.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Behind the doors, every room is surrounded by curved walls with a variety of textured wallpapers.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Other additions include bespoke furniture pieces, from a smoothly curving bench to a glass table with its base shaped like  a cluster of little trees.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Photography is by Kyle Yu.

Here's some text from the architects:


Zhengzhou Clubhouse

A large private company based in China commissioned noiz to design a special clubhouse near their headquarters in Zhengzhou. The required program include VIP reception, meeting, dining, and recreational areas, as well as private suites for the owner and for guests of the company.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

The unique triangular shape of the existing floor plan and its core distribution restricted the design and functional layout, making it difficult to distribute rooms within a standard grid-geometry. Noiz decided to make the new plan as free-form as possible to flexibly accommodate the existing structure and requirement changes during the design period.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

To make a contrast with the busy building exterior and surroundings, we decided to make the interior palette as colourless as possible, making everything white to remove the sense of weight and 'busy-ness" of the outside. However, within this all-white palette, we introduced a vivid variety of materiality and texture to express variation in space and atmosphere.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Each room has a unique form, and each is given a different texture and pattern within the white palette. We carefully cataloged multiple material options for all surfaces - floor, wall, ceiling, furniture - and coordinated them while considering the various scales and functions of each room.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

The largest room is the main hall, with its double-height atrium; it doubles as a reception area and an event space. We treated the surface of the lower level ceiling as an upside-down landscape that flows continuously towards a large opening in the centre, like a hole in a golf course, deliberately punching through an uneven surface. A special LED chandelier installed at the upper level maintains a continuous flow to the lower level ceiling.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

We also introduced a set of gate/threshold using images of historic and contemporary styles throughout the rooms, compiled from various Eastern and Western references, in order to establish an off-beat sensibility and focal points in the overall space. These images are intentionally treated as 'fake' information, and randomly mixed as 2D and 3D representations to provoke a unique experience between material and information, real and fake.

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Location: Zhenzhou, China
Design: Aug. 2011–Nov. 2011
Construction: Nov. 2011–May. 2012
Building Type: Clubhouse (Interior)

Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz

Floor Area: 1,700 sqm
Construction Cost: About 2M USD (13M RMB)
Contractor: KeRui construction company
Furniture Manufacturer: Shanghai Fulin Funiture Company
Chandelier Maker: Fany-Mini Lighiting Company
Mechanical Engineering and Plumbing and Structural Engineering: TSC Engineers
Construction Management: People Tech Consulting

dezeen_Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz_51
Lower floor plan - click for larger image and key
Zhengzhou Clubhouse by Noiz
Upper floor plan - click for larger image and key