The 743 ART Lab, nestled within Shanghai’s renowned M50 creative district, represents a thoughtful fusion of artistic practice, exhibition space, and contemplative retreat. This 120-square-meter project by NONG STUDIO transforms a rectangular industrial space into a multifunctional creative haven that honors both its architectural heritage and contemporary artistic needs.
Design Philosophy: Embracing Industrial Authenticity
The project’s approach deliberately eschews decorative excess in favor of raw authenticity. The design team, led by Chasing Wang, preserved the industrial character of the original structure while introducing natural materials including concrete, artistic paint, marine plywood, and tatami mats. This material palette creates a dialogue between the space’s manufacturing past and its artistic present.
The southwest-facing 12.5M x 7.7M rectangular space benefits from abundant natural light, which the designers have supplemented with carefully planned artificial lighting. This combination ensures optimal conditions for both artistic creation and exhibition viewing throughout the day.
Spatial Organization: A Garden Without Trees
The layout divides the space into two primary zones running north to south. The main artist workspace takes advantage of favorable lighting conditions and a generous 4.5-meter ceiling height, providing an expansive environment for creative work. Supporting functions—including entrance, corridor, kitchen, storage, and bathroom—are efficiently organized along the northeast side.
A two-level configuration adds vertical dimension to the space, with the second floor serving as both rest area and meditation space, accessed via a connecting stair platform. This vertical element introduces what the designers describe as “timeless scalelessness,” reminiscent of traditional Chinese garden design principles.
The Gallery as Sacred Space
The exhibition area embraces a “room within a room” concept, preserving the original ceiling height and distinctive arched top. This architectural decision creates what the designers call “reverence for art”—a space where the industrial bones of the building frame contemporary artistic expression.
Drawing inspiration from Song Dynasty landscape painting philosophy of “walking and dwelling,” the spatial arrangement encourages movement and discovery. The design reflects the Chinese garden tradition mentioned by landscape theorist Tong Jun, where “well-arranged” spaces create shifting experiences of time and space through careful manipulation of layout, openness, light, and shadow.
A Contemporary Interpretation of Traditional Principles
Despite the absence of traditional garden elements like trees or water features, the 743 ART Lab successfully evokes the essence of a garden through its winding circulation paths and carefully orchestrated sense of enclosure. The space demonstrates how ancient design principles can inform contemporary creative environments, creating areas for both focused work and quiet contemplation.
The project stands as a testament to NONG STUDIO’s multidisciplinary approach, which extends beyond pure aesthetics to prioritize meaningful impact on how creative practitioners interact with their environment. By maintaining the industrial character while introducing elements that support artistic practice and exhibition, the 743 ART Lab offers a model for adaptive reuse that honors architectural heritage while serving contemporary creative needs.
