Project Team

design: Metis Design Agency

 

Located underground of the Zhengjia shopping center in Tianhe district of Guangzhou, Lang Club is a modern and classy night club designed by the group of four designers from Metis Design Agency. Just as how the group is formed, its work also carries a combination of styles and themes. For example, the design of Lang Club, which is named after its major owner Lang Lang, an internationally renowned pianist, has combined a Chinese Ling Nan style with a western style. It is also a mixture of a contemporary and a classic style.

The whole space of Lang Club is generally divided into the Lounge area, and Stage and Bar area.

Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines (CZ) has operated into Australia for more than 12 years. It now flies twice daily between Sydney and Guangzhou, twice daily from Melbourne, three times a week from Perth and four times a week from Brisbane (increasing to daily flights from November 22). The airline also operates daily Dreamliner services to Auckland (increasing to 10 weekly from December 4). China Southern operates the largest airline fleet in Asia and with more than 86 million passengers carried in 2012 it is the fifth largest carrier in the world.

Entry and the Entrance Lobby
The entry of the club is relatively low profile, due to its VIP membership form. Right before you enter the club area, it is the entrance lobby that you are in. The entrance lobby has adopted “Dou Gong”, an architectural construction element from ancientChina, as a main source of decoration here. This application gives visitors a hint of a dominant Chinese style. The metal pattern surrounding the gateway is also evolved from the shape of the Dou Gong, subtly consisted a circle around the door, which serves as a warm welcome to attract visitors to the unique scenes they are about to enter.

The two sculptures near to the gateway are work from the series “Attired Violence” by Yang Tao, a contemporary Chinese artist. These are quite unconventional work with its own style. There is another sculpture known as “Leng Tie Yi” located at the end of the corridor, which echoes to the sculptures by the gateway in distance.

Whisky Bar
To the left hand side of the corridor, is the whisky bar. Its design is based on the theme of “autumn moon casting on the calm lake”, a famous Chinese scenery located at the West Lake of Hangzhou. Obviously the scenery conveys a calm and peaceful atmosphere. The concepts of natural elements such as sky and land, mountain and water, are manifested through the design of the cloud shaped ceiling, the mountain like patterns on the wallhanging, the branch of the tree in the middle of the bar, as well as the sea wave like graphics on the carpet. The creation of this space is based on the fantasy of such a wonderland described in the theme. There are clouds above, with trees, mountains, and water surrounding. Graphics of Dou Gong elevation have been applied as a decoration on the stone wall surface besides the Yue VIP door. The element of Dou Gong has been adopted for decoration at places of the club, and it’s an emphasis on the Chinese element of the design.

The bookshelf is designed specially by the designers, for people who would like to have a little solitude and read in the lounge. The shape of the bookshelf is consisted by a range of traditional Lingnan styled shapes and it was designed as a fantasy. It has combined function with its aesthetic value, although its practical function may not be fulfilled as a main purpose.

Yue VIP Room
The theme of this space is closely related to the root of Lingnan culture, which was largely influenced by ancient Nan Yue Kingdom civilization. To reify a Yue King space, the room has employed red color as the main tone, which implies passion, strength and power. The graphic on the wallhanging is evolved from the look of a peony, the flower symbolizing prosperity and noble. The whole pattern is broken down to parts and put on wall inconsecutively, which gives a feeling of innovation.

Red Wine Bar
The red wine bar is mainly designed in a Lingnan style and based on the theme of “Rain drops falling on the banana leaves”, a Lingnan local expression adopted as the name for a famousCantonmusic. “Nature”, “freshness”, and “vital force” are key concepts expressed through the expression.

The Lingnan style is manifested through the creation of the beam structured ceiling which serves as a decoration only, the wood carving folding screen with a combination of lingnan styled patterns, and the round shaped column base, etc. The brick constructed pattern on the wall behind the bar is a typical feature of Lingnan style too. As a wine bar, the grape metal graphics on the wood wall implies the wine culture which the space is closely linked to. “Nature” and “freshness” was shown through the adoption of the vivid colors and the placement of plants around the place.

Cigar Bar
Cigar bar is located between the red wine bar and Sushi bar. Cigar is originated from western world, so this space is designed to be a western fumoir atmosphere. The sofas are chesterfield. The ceiling is inspired by typography. All the words aligned are related to the subject of cigar, to put an accent on the theme of the cigar bar, at the same time on a western style.

The dark colored classical english book decoration below the ceiling has its implications too. The side look of the book with gold color letters and lines suggests the look of a cigar. It also implies a sentiment for the old time English library where a smoking space was attached.

The fully paneled wall gives a sense of American Victorian style. This kind of wall was popular among the well-to-do in the late 19th century. The drawings along the wall are work by the Victorian English architect/artist, Thomas Allom (1804-1872). These are scenes of oldGuangzhou in Qing dynasty. Altogether the space has created an atmosphere of classic and culture.

Sushi Bar
The design of Shushi bar was stimulated by “Fisherman’s song at dusk”, a part of a poem by Wang Bo, a famous poet from Tang Dynasty. It describes a scene which fishermen returning home with foison at dusk. The faint light coming out of the marble stone implies sunset. The chopsticks on the shelf is an installation art to emphasize on the food culture, and the plants placed around the space gives a sense of the nature, which is closely related to the theme.

The Box
This is a conjunctional area between the lounge and the main bar. The louver applied here serves as a trick to avoid the boredom. Walking pass the Box, you can only see the greenery behind the louver from one direction, but not from the other. This little visual game may keep visitors interested from seeing regular scenes.

The Main Bar
Inspiration for the main bar comes from a Chinese ancient drinking game “Qu Shui Liu Shang”. Players would sit along side a winding stream and put floating cups with full wine into the water and let them flow. When a cup stops in front of someone, that person would have to drink it up and give a toast. Poems from the famous collection “Lan Ting Xu” from the ancient Jin Dynasty was created while playing this game. The streamline sculptural shape of the counter was inspired by the story, and it resembles the winding stream. On an aesthetic sense this is a well designed art piece which has a great practical function.

The Stage
The stage is an open one with a big LED screen at the background. The cloud ceiling above the stage implies sky, which gives a sense of wideness. The intention of the design is to inspire the musicians when they play on the stage. The faceted glass wall is a very interesting device. When lights casting on the wall, it reflects and makes a fantastic effect. As a visual effect, the lower half of DJ booth is also covered with the same faceted glass to hide the booth, making it just like a chameleon merged with the background

Four Seasons VIP
This is a feminine oriented space which named after the painting “Four Seasons” in the room. The painting is by Mee Wong, an emerging Chinese contemporary female artist whose work only concerns female figures without showing their full face. Images on the art work are elegant and sexy, which shows the feminine quality of women. The color of the room is purple, which represents elegance and classy. The medallions ceiling is a taste of revival style from the neo-classical period. Together with the antique reproduction furnitures, and the bamboo plant by the otherside, the space is a mixture of different elements such as, classical, contemporary, feminine qualities, and the nature.

Public Toilet
Even the public toilet of the club is also aesthetically satisfying. The mirrors on the counter are in different Lingnan styled shapes, and the flowery graphics on the ceiling are traditional patterns from Qing Dynasty. A very special feature here is the toilet doors. When they are all closed, they compose a whole piece of the great art work – Dream of Red Chambers, based on the famous novel from Qing Dynasty.

The whole design of Lang Club accents on culture with different themes applied to different spaces. Contrasts are strong between spaces. Instead of merely pursuing its visual effect, the design is based on a thorough research and a profound understanding towards the culture and relevant historical factors. This has given Lang Club a rich connotation and enabled it to shine inside out!