Youchen·Yanjuan | JINHE DESIGN | Shantai, Hebei, China
New Vision for Entrepreneurial Space in the Post-Pandemic Era
In 2023, JINHE DESIGN completed the project Youchen·Yanjuan, a visionary business space for the Yushen Group in Shantai, Hebei. More than just a corporate hospitality center, the project redefines modern work processes as a third place — a flexible, mixed environment that blends professional, social, and cultural life.
Layered Spatial Narratives
JINHE DESIGN draws inspiration from the sociological concept of the 'third place', described by Ray Oldenburg as a social space between home and work. Youchen·Yanjuan embodies this principle, offering an adaptive environment that supports dialogue, comfort, and informal interaction.
The initially awkward site was reimagined as a series of six spatial clusters — a western dining hall, Chinese dining hall, lounge area, office space, salon, and tea room. Each zone retains its distinctiveness while remaining visually and spatially connected. Sliding walls, intersecting partitions, and transitional furniture elements define fluid boundaries that change with user activity.
This layered organization creates a rhythm of openness and intimacy, with smooth transitions from one space to another along the east-west axis and north-south direction. The absence of fixed walls allows for dynamic use and constant reconfiguration of the space, transforming it from a conference center into a social environment.
Materials and Atmosphere
The material palette and lighting strategy in Youchen·Yanjuan embody a refined sense of moderation. Curved interior walls soften the space, while controlled tilts and slight rotations create motion and rhythm. Natural light penetrates through full southern glazing, filling the interior with changing patterns of light and shadow throughout the day.
Artistic installations and sculptural furniture add visual depth — for example, a 360-degree modular sofa in the salon, pendant lights above the dining hall, and reflective surfaces that scatter light across textured materials. The result is an interior that feels alive, tactile, and contemplative.
The Dialogue Between Functionality and Art
Every design element serves a dual purpose — practical and poetic. From the frozen escalator acting as a sculptural accent to collage deconstructivist walls defining movement routes, the entire space blurs the boundary between architecture and art.
The western and Chinese dining areas create a sense of hospitality and ceremony, while the tea and salon zones foster social intimacy and dialogue. The intersection of these functions transforms the reception center into a living system of interactions, reflecting the dynamics of modern entrepreneurship.
Redefining the Spirit of Entrepreneurship
Youchen·Yanjuan is more than a business space. It's a manifesto for modern work culture. It encourages innovation, empathy, and holistic well-being, positioning the entrepreneurial environment as a catalyst for creativity and urban energy.
Through its open structure, rich textures, and sensitivity to human behavior, JINHE DESIGN created a space that reflects the evolving relationship between people, business, and city. Youchen·Yanjuan stands as a symbol of caring, progress, and cultural intelligence, a place where art, architecture, and entrepreneurship intertwine.
Spatial Groups: Overcoming Physical Boundaries
JINHE DESIGN reorganized the initially awkward site into six independent yet connected open spaces — a western dining hall, Chinese dining hall, lounge area, office zone, salon, and tea room. Without physical walls, these zones are connected yet maintain their independence, visually forming several spatial groups along the east-west and north-south axes.
Each independent space clearly defines its function with movement routes connecting different functional modules, expanding into several combined spaces. They intersect and are used collaboratively. The office zone, lounge area, and tea room form a narrow group along the windows. The western dining hall, Chinese dining hall, and lounge area are located on the northern side opposite to each other. The northern and southern spatial groups are connected via intersecting walls, sliding doors, low TV walls, and electric fireplace zones, creating an internal network of multi-use and universal spatial layouts.
Overcoming physical boundaries enables freer movement and behavior, while connections between zones become more flexible with usage, maximizing the potential for space utilization.
Spatial Details: Art Happens Naturally
Material forms, color rhythms, and lighting are intricately woven into the spatial details where vivid artistic experiences further blur traditional boundaries of activity, creating a smooth and free sensation.
Internal wall structures gently curve and wrap, sometimes tilt or rotate, sometimes block and continue. They aim to convey wholeness, openness, and change, creating unique and rich spatial details that are also mysteriously ambiguous and captivatingly outlined.
The communication area presents a collage of deconstructivism against the modern backdrop; frozen escalators and artworks create a consistent visual vocabulary; 360-degree modular sofas in bright colors activate the atmosphere of continuous scenes; pendant lights above the dining hall resonate within, smoothly integrating functionality with art.
The space connects to the city through southern panoramic windows where natural light generously penetrates, creating streams of light and shadows throughout the day under multiple reflections. Between stillness and motion, light and darkness, compactness and spaciousness, functionality and void, the space is filled with life.
Exploring Value: The Spirit of Entrepreneurial Space
The layered entrepreneurial spaces within Youchen·Yanjuan function as nodes of urban public life and business reception, evolving into independent organic ecosystems with composite modernity. They serve as engines for developing microscopic innovations in the city, creating unprecedented commercial value.
At the same time, this era demands designers to generalize and integrate complex types of spaces more broadly, making places like Youchen·Yanjuan reception centers more humane and modern.
The fusion of the entrepreneurial spirit with creative thinking to provide an inspiring composite space is at the core of JINHE DESIGN's philosophy. Care and progressive thought embedded in their designs harmonize seamlessly with the entrepreneurial spirit required during this period.
