Dezeen Magazine

ToSummer Beijing Flagship Store named best interior at Dezeen Awards China 2023

ToSummer Beijing Flagship Store has been named Dezeen Awards China 2023's interiors project of the year following the announcement of all six interiors winners at this evening's ceremony.

The six interiors winners were awarded at the first Dezeen Awards China ceremony. Launched this year, Dezeen Awards China shines a spotlight on the best Chinese architecture, interiors and design, providing international recognition from around the globe.

ToSummer Beijing Flagship Store crowned project of the year

To Summer Beijing Flagship Store by FOG Architecture was awarded interiors project of the year, sponsored by Gaggenau. It was also named retail interior of the year.

The judges commended the studio for exemplifying how small and thoughtful changes can inspire and protect historical buildings.

"Congratulations to FOG for winning the inaugural Dezeen interior project of the year – well deserved showing their skilful hand in the sensitive transformation of a traditional courtyard house to a new retail experience," said the judges.

"This project bridges both architecture and interiors and showcases how sensitive and minimal intervention can inspire and preserve our built history."

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The 280-year-old courtyard in the centre of Beijing won interiors project of the year 2023

Other winners include interior practice RooMoo Design Studio for its whiskey bar adorned with 6,000 discarded wooden barrel pieces and JSPA Design for its office featuring concrete floor slabs and cantilevered meeting rooms in Shenzhen.

Entries were judged by our jury of leading industry figures, including interior designer Kelly Wearstler, Linehouse co-founder Alex Mok, interior architect André Fu, British designer Ilse Crawford, and Shanghai-based Li Xiang.

Find out more about the winning interiors projects on the Dezeen Awards website or read on below:


Photo by InSpace-scaled

Interiors project of the year 2023 and retail interior project of the year 2023: ToSummer Beijing Flagship Store by FOG Architecture

In this project, FOG Architecture revamped a 280-year-old courtyard house in Beijing and transformed it into the flagship store of the fragrance brand ToSummer, also known as Guanxia.

FOG Architecture renovated the building to reveal its original architecture, which features triangle-shaped timber roof trusses and a series of wooden columns.

"The client wanted to create an oriental courtyard in the centre of Beijing," said FOG. "Before the renovation, the courtyard house was a complete and closed spatial system based on old functions."

"The entire courtyard house had to be deconstructed into a series of loose sub-spaces to introduce a new structure."

Read more about ToSummer Beijing Flagship Store ›


Photo by 323 Studio

Home interior of the year 2023: Light House by 323 Studio

Light House is a concrete home in Zhengzhou spread across four floors, two of which are subterranean.

The lower levels receive natural light from a small patio on the upper floor. Each floor is connected by stairwells, which were informed by the shape of the patio's skylight.

"When observing the site, we found that there was no good landscape around the building, so we decided to build an introverted building on the site," 323 Studio told Dezeen.


Photo by Schran Images

Workplace interior of the year 2023: Yeahka Headquarters Office by JSPA Design

Studio JSPA Design renovated Chinese mobile banking company Yeahka's headquarter office in Shenzhen Kexing Science Park.

The 6,000 square metre office was stripped to create an open-plan space across three floors, flooding the concrete and steel interiors in natural light.

"The lighting design enhances the contrast between smooth materials such as glass and stainless steel and the rough feel of the space," said JSPA Design.


Photo by Atelier d'More

Hotel and short-stay interior of the year 2023: Twosome Inn by Atelier d'More

Studio Atelier d'More transformed traditional farmhouses into boutique guesthouses in a coastal Chinese province north of Shanghai.

Located in Tangdazhuang Village, Twosome Inn preserves the traditional bungalow architectural shapes from the region, organising the rooms around an 88-square-metre courtyard.

"The houses here are made of red bricks and have traditional features such as elements of ancient Chinese architecture, painted patterns and wooden pitched roofs," said Atelier d'More.

"Extracting and reconstructing these traditional architectural features was a challenging design task."


Photo by Studio X4

Health and wellbeing interior of the year 2023: Self Revealing by Studio X4

Local design firm StudioX4's meditation space in downtown Taipei, which features a dark, canopy-like ceiling, was named health and wellbeing interior of the year.

The structure, built using planes of plywood planks, creates a curved interior volume with chamfered walls and a single straight wall lined with mirrors.

"By exploring the process of personality materialisation and self-formation, we understand that the self is affected by external factors," said Studio X4. "Influenced by the inevitable two-way nature of interiority, reality and ideals, the design concept of this case is extended."


Photo by RooMoo Design Studio

Restaurant and bar interior of the year 2023: Lai Zhou Bar by RooMoo Design Studio

Located in Shanghai's humming Xuhui District, Lai Zhou Bar is an offshoot of Laizhou Distillery, a Chinese whiskey producer based out of Sichuan province.

Local interior design studio RooMoo reused approximately 6,000 pieces of wood from the distillery's discarded oak barrels as decoration.

"Qionglai has an excellent natural environment for winemaking and is also the best place to watch the largest fireflies in Asia," RooMoo Design Studio told Dezeen.

"Therefore, we used nearly 6,000 discarded wooden barrel pieces removed from whiskey oak barrels to connect the long space from the outdoors to the indoors in the form of an installation, forming a flowing spatial visual experience."

Dezeen Awards China 2023

Dezeen Awards China is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, to celebrate the best architecture, interiors and design in China. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent.