Sanj Design Studio has designed the shophouse interiors for the Sanj Haus workplace in Xiamen, China.

Due to the modern development and changes in the city, the public activity space of the original inhabitants in the old city has been gradually eroded.

Therefore, Sanj renovated an old arcade building in the old town to create a new combination of design studio and coffee shop to provide a new gathering point for the local community.

The designers hope to use the special historical architectural features of the arcade to evoke the common memory of local residents and create a community space with a human touch.

The cultural development and historical memory of the city are closely related to people, and the design hopes to revitalize the space and participate in recording and inheriting the history of old Xiamen with the indigenous people.

For this shophouse, we consciously tried to express what was old and what was new in terms of design language and how the material is applied.

To pay respect to the old historic protected building, the designer constantly visits and pays attention to the ageing of the old building at different construction stages to evaluate its renovation conditions.

This project has been shortlisted in the workplace interior category of Dezeen Awards China 2024.

Studio: Sanj Design Studio
Project: Sanj Haus
Credits: Jianhuang Chen, Ng Sear Nee and Scott Chen