Completed 2012 photographs and spatial studies show the continuous interior, terraces, and curved glazed edge. View evidence ↓
RIBO Central Club is a 300 m² clubhouse at the RIBO Group headquarters in Qingpu District, Shanghai. Completed in 2012, it was my first built project. Designed for employees and visiting clients, it brings dining, reading, meetings, and informal gathering into a small addition to the existing campus.
A shared ground within the campus
The site sits where the headquarters’ research and design, production, and residential areas meet. Existing pedestrian routes cross the limited space beside the brick buildings. Lifting part of the clubhouse preserves a passage and creates a sheltered terrace below, while the volume bends around a small courtyard. The building brings indoor gathering spaces close to everyday campus circulation, with views through the glazing linking the interior, courtyard, and surrounding paths.
Campus location and massing sequence: setbacks, a raised volume, a courtyard opening, and circulation through and around the building.
Movement becomes inhabitable space
Reception, dining, a bar, and a reading area occupy a connected sequence of changing levels. Broad timber steps bridge the height difference and provide places to sit, turning circulation into an extension of the lounge. The plan wraps these activities around the courtyard, so moving through the building continually changes the relationship between the interior and the outdoor terrace.
Floor-to-ceiling glazing keeps the compact spaces visually connected. Along the raised reading area, a full-height shelving wall gives the interior a distinct edge behind the glass; across the courtyard, the projecting upper room frames a more enclosed space above the entrance.
Ground and first-floor plans show the outdoor platform, reception, dining, bar, and reading area.
The longitudinal section and north elevation show how the floor rises to accommodate both interior activities and outdoor space below.
Upper-level plans and additional sections describe the vertical connections, courtyard, and projecting room.
A continuous edge
White metal bands trace the floor and roof profiles, making the changes in level legible from outside. Between them, curved glazing follows the building around the courtyard and toward the campus path. Slender V-shaped supports carry the lifted edge while leaving the terrace open beneath it.
Inside, timber surfaces give the steps and lounge a common material character. The construction details coordinate the glazing, floor finish, ceiling, and metal edge cladding so the continuous outline can be assembled from distinct building components.
Exterior design study and east elevation: the raised glazed volume joins the projecting upper room and the existing brick building.
Interior design study, roof and floor-edge details, and a cutaway through the stepped timber seating.
